I'll Make You Mine
by LifeIsTooQuick
Summary: Roger and Mimi are falling apart. Then Mimi meets someone new. He’s really nice and at first she likes the attention, but then he begins to take things too far as he stops at nothing to get her. Not MMOC, Mostly MMRD PostRent
1. Neglected and Ignored

_Okay, now this is my first fic so please be kind. I've been planning it out for months and I think I've finally gotten it as perfect as I could make it. This story will be pretty much all Roger/Mimi with some Maureen/Joanne and Mark/OC. Collins and Benny will be in it a bit too, so there will be small mentions of Benny/Allison. But it's mostly just Roger/Mimi, otherwise the story would be veeeeery long.  
I'm starting it with a "T" rating, but I'm not entirely sure how bad it'll get. There will be some suggestive scenes and some scenes of violence, and definitely some swearing, but I'm not sure how bad it'll get. So when you review would you please also let me know whether you think it should stay "T" or be upgraded to "M"? Assuming people review this, that is. _

_And, finally, __Thanks so so so much to Yume, my beta-reader. __Thank you very much. And now my story. Enjoy._

_ Disclaimer: __I do not own Rent. If I did Tamyra would have long hair._

* * *

Mimi swung around the pole swaying her hips in perfect time to the music. Some drunk 40-something-year-old held a five-dollar bill out to her. She took it smiling at him and stuffed the bill into her top.Mimi had been back to work for a week so far and she had never felt better. Physically, anyway.She had spent a month staying at the loft, resting and trying to get better. To her surprise, it had actually worked. She never thought two months ago that she would ever recover from the state she was in.  
Emotionally, she wasn't sure how she was. She and Roger had gotten back together… Sort of. They lived together, they tolerated each other, and they never fought anymore. But that was pretty much it. They never did anything else. For the most part Mimi felt pretty ignored.  
The music finally stopped and Mimi climbed down off the stage, her shift finally over. Dancers at the Cat Scratch Club worked three hour shifts. They could work as many as two per night, but they couldn't work all three. Mimi always worked the shift from 9:00 pm to midnight, except on Sundays, which she had off.  
Mimi entered her dressing room to the sound of laughter. Her dressing roommates, Mariah and Keisha, were laughing hysterically at something as they removed their heavy make-up.  
"What's so funny?" Mimi asked as she sat down and began removing her own make-up.  
"The new regular," Mariah responded matter-of-factly.  
"Who?" Mimi hadn't noticed anyone new. But, then again, she had just returned last week.  
"He's a total dweeb!" Keisha exclaimed, "He's one of those guys stands no chance in hell of getting a girl. And he knows it so he spends all his time fantasizing over the pretty girls at the nearest strip club."  
"Guys, don't be so mean about it," Mimi scolded them. She didn't think it was very fair of them to be picking on someone they had never even met.  
"Oh, but we haven't even told you the best part," Mariah said mischievously, "You see, he used to come around every once in a while. He started a couple months back, while you were gone. But lately he's been coming around every night from nine to midnight."  
Mimi thought she saw where Mariah was going, but she wasn't going to help her get there.  
"And the whole time he stares at you," Keisha finished for her.  
"How can you tell?" Mimi asked skeptically.  
"It's obvious. Just watch him. I'll point him out to you tomorrow and you'll see. He's only got eyes for you, hon."  
Mimi groaned. She hated it when guys stared specifically at her. Although, she had to admit it was nice to get some attention.  
As the girls were leaving the club Mimi was distracted by a young man who had stepped in front of her. He looked very pale (Mimi thought there was no way he could _always_ be that pale.) and was sort of shaking, fidgeting his hands and looking down at his feet.  
Judging by the sudden outbreak of giggle behind her, Mimi assumed this must be "the new regular."  
"Hi." Mimi said, trying to be polite, "Um, if you don't mind, could you please move? You're in my way."  
"My name is Todd," he blurted out quickly.  
Mimi just stared, she had no idea what to do. The polite thing would be to give her name. That didn't mean she was going to, however, until she heard Mariah and Keisha laughing behind her. They weren't even bothering to hide the fact that they were laughing at the poor boy.  
"Hi, Todd. I'm Mimi," Mimi said politely shaking his hand. Mariah and Keisha stared at her like she was crazy. You _never_ give someone your real name.  
"Listen… I was… Um… wondering… If you weren't busy… Wouldyaliektogooutwithme?" He said the last part very quickly and smashed together, but Mimi knew what he'd said.  
"I'm sorry, I can't. I have a boyfriend." Mimi said, still trying to be as polite as possible.  
"Oh, ok. Then, I'll be going… Um… See you around, I guess," he said, trying to mask his disappointment. And he walked away slowly, with his head down.  
"Wow… What a loser!" Mariah exclaimed and Keisha laughed in agreement.  
"Don't be so mean!' Mimi exclaimed, and she turned around and walked out the door, leaving her stunned co-workers behind.

* * *

Todd's POV  
_I walked away from Mimi feeling like a total idiot. What was I thinking? I stood no chance with someone like her. She's too pretty, kind, smart, and just… Perfect.  
There's no way she has a boyfriend, though. No respectful boyfriend would ever let his girlfriend work at a sleazy place like this.  
As I turned around and walked away I could hear the other two girls making fun of me. I don't know why Mimi would hang around girls like them. They're such rude, stuck-up bitches.  
I had just begun thinking that maybe I should just give up when I heard Mimi scold the others for making fun of me.  
So… She does like me… A little bit, at least. So…That means I stand a chance! All I have to do is convince her that I'm the perfect person for her. That might take some time, but I can do it. I have to._

* * *

Mimi entered the loft and looked around. There was no one there. Of course. Mark was out with his new girlfriend, Jodie. Mimi liked her, she fit in perfectly with everyone. She was also perfect for Mark. Outgoing enough to stand up for the couple, yet down to earth enough to see how awesome Mark was. Collins was probably out with some of his university buddies.  
And Roger was at work… Again… He was _always_ at work. Mimi didn't see how someone who works as a bar tender could work so damn much. Wasn't that supposed to be the problem with lawyers, doctors, and other jobs where you had to college first?  
Roger got home really late from work everyday, so he'd sleep until noon. Then he'd have to leave almost immediately to make it to his 1:00 shift. He worked for five hours; then he got a two hour break before starting his 8:00 shift. Then he got off at 1:00 am and didn't get home until 1:30.  
As soon as he got home he would undress and go immediately to sleep. Even if Mimi was awake, he'd still go to bed saying he was really tired. Then he'd sleep until noon and start the whole cycle all over again.  
The only days he didn't work all day were the days his band practiced. Every Tuesday and Thursday they practiced from 8:00-11:00. On these nights Roger would get home before Mimi, but he was always either asleep or busy when she got home. Then every Saturday they usually had a gig that went on until past midnight.  
Mimi hardly ever saw him anymore. And it made no sense to her. He had promised they would spend more time together, but so far they spent more time last year when they were fighting constantly. At least when they fought he paid some form of attention to her. Now she got nothing at all.  
Mimi lay in bed for an hour before she heard the loft door open. She lay there listening as Roger got ready for bed and then slipped under the covers.  
"You're home," Mimi said, pointing out the obvious for hopes at starting a conversation.  
Roger jumped a mile and almost fell out of bed. Mimi had to work very hard to stifle a laugh.  
"Mimi! You sacred the hell out of me! Why are you up?"  
"I was waiting for you," she said innocently, placing a hand on his arm.  
"Mimi, not tonight. I'm too tired." he said before rolling over and falling asleep.  
Mimi lay there, staring at him. He was always too tired. Was it too much for her to want to spend a little time with her boyfriend? They barely even spoke anymore. Todd had said more to her in the past few weeks than Roger had. Holding back tears, Mimi rolled over and fell asleep.

* * *

Mimi rolled over and looked at the clock- 12:30. She got up and dressed, not bothering to shower. She walked out of the bedroom to find Roger with his back to her talking on the phone.  
Roger sounded really happy about something. Mimi couldn't hear the other person distinctly, but it sounded like a woman.  
"Yeah…" Roger said, then he waited for the other person to say something, "I know… Six days… I can't wait… Ok. Thank you so much. Bye."  
He hung up and turned around noticing Mimi.  
"Mimi! How long have you been standing there?" he asked, looking nervous.  
"I just go here," she lied and a look of relief came over his face. "Who was that?"  
"That?" Roger asked, getting nervous again, "Oh, that was just my cousin, Kayla."  
"Oh! I gotta go," he said, looking at his watch before Mimi had a chance to inquire any further, "I have work in 30 minutes. Bye!" and he was out the door. He didn't even give her a kiss good-bye.  
Mimi sat at the table, thinking hard. Roger only had one cousin named "Kayla" that Mimi could think of and the one time Roger had mentioned her it was in a long rant about why he hated his family so much. He claimed she was a "stuck-up, snobbish bitch who cared only about her self." So why was he happy she had called?  
Unless… She didn't call, and that was someone else… She couldn't deny the thought had entered her mind, but she never would have believed it. After everything he put her through last year why would he cheat? But then again, there seemed to be no other explanation.  
Roger was always gone. He said he was at work, and that he worked so much because they needed the money. But Mimi didn't think they had any more money than they had before he started working. They were never together. He barely talked to her. And now he was getting secret phone calls.  
More to stop her thinking than anything else, Mimi decided to do some laundry and grabbed a basket and headed down the stairs.

* * *

Mimi entered the laundromat across the street to find that, to her dismay, someone was already there. 

"Hey, Mimi," Tricia said. Tricia was Jodie's younger sister. She lived in Mimi's old apartment with her mom, step-dad, and two younger half-siblings.

She was sitting on a dryer, reading some teen magazine. "Leonardo DiCaprio is so hot. Did you see 'Titanic'?"

"No, I missed that one," Mimi said jokingly, as she was on the streets when the movie had come out.

"Oops, oh yeah. Sorry. Well, when you get a chance, you should see it. It's very good. So romantic.. And tragic… And sad… And the effects are awesome…And Leonardo DiCaprio is so hot!"  
Mimi laughed at the teenager drooling over some celebrity. She began loading a washer when Tricia spoke again.  
"Of course, you don't need someone like him. You've got Roger and he's ten times better than Leonardo DiCaprio. He might even be hotter. I haven't decided yet." She smiled humorously at Mimi. Mimi returned it half-heartedly, trying to not let Tricia onto how bad their relationship was now. "Hey, is there any relationship advice in that magazine?" Mimi asked, half-interested in if there actually was. She could definitely use some relationship advice right now. "A magazine for teens… Hmmm… Could there possibly be _any_ article about relationship advice?" Tricia responded, sarcastically. Then she smiled and asked "What do you want to know?"  
"Is it possible for someone to feel strongly about someone, and then change?"  
"What?"  
"Like. Is it possible for someone to be completely, madly in love with someone and then one day just not love them as much anymore."  
"I suppose so. I mean, look at my parents. They used to love each other. I mean, they had two kids and were married and he took her out often and stuff. But now they hate each other's guts. Why? You aren't thinking of dumping Roger, are you?"  
Mimi smiled slightly. Tricia absolutely loved Roger. Not in the "I want to marry you" way, but in the "I totally idolize you and love everything you do" way. Roger had helped her out a few months ago and she had taken great interest in his and Mimi's relationship. The movie-loving teen claimed it was "a love story no screenwriter could create."  
"No. I'm not talking about me."  
"Oh, ok. Good. Because he would be absolutely crushed." she sat in silence for a while reading her magazine until the dryer buzzed. Then she empty the clothes into a basket and headed upstairs.  
"See you, Mimi. Mom and Emil are going out tonight. So I get to baby-sit… Wahoo." she added sarcastically, twirling her finger slowly in the air.  
Mimi laughed and watched her leave.  
A few minutes later Mimi put her clothes in the dryer and sat down thinking about what Tricia had said. Then, as hard as she could, she couldn't stop the tears anymore. Yes, it was true that people's feelings could change, and Roger's probably had. The problem was Mimi's hadn't.

* * *

_Yes, I know. That was depressing. But I promise, it gets better! So, don't throw anything, ok? To see what Todd and Jodie and her family look like go to my profile. (Hopefully I did that correctly and the links are linkable.)_


	2. It's a Date

_Ok, chapter two. I'm so so so so so sooooo sorry about the long time it took to update. I absolutely HATE it when people do that and I hate being like that, but my beta-reader had a tough time getting the chapters back to me. But you get two chapters, so does that make up for it? I'll try to update much quicker than this, but the next may be a week-ish because this week is Homecoming and I'm SUPER busy. I'll try, though.  
On a slightly related note, my beta-reader had to resign due to her massive homework content. So if anyone is willing to be my beta-reader for this story (And possibly my other stories as well, if you're willing.) please PM me. Thank you very much in advance. :)  
Once again, thanks very much to Yume, my awesome beta-reader.  
I'm sorry if this skips around a bit. It was just such a long chapter for me, and I had some difficulty with it (Still, I thought I had everything planned out, and then I get to this one. :p) I'm just in a bit of a rush to get to the good stuff. But you can't get there without giving a set-up. _

_Another thing. I made a typo in the first chapter, sorry. When I first wrote it I had Tricia talking about "Jerry MaGuire" (Or however you spell it.) And then I changed my mind and decided to have her talk about Titanic. (Because Leonardo is so much cuter than Tom. :p) And I changed her first mention, but I forgot about the others. So I changed what Tricia said in that conversation a bit. I'm sorry about that. This is what I get for deciding to make a changed after my beta-reader already sent the chapter back to me. :p  
_

_Enjoy.  
_

* * *

Mimi walked home from work the next night thoroughly miserable.  
She still hadn't decided what she was going to do. She supposed the best thing to do would be to confront Roger about the problems. But she really didn't want to do that. If she acted like everything was perfectly fine, then maybe it would all work itself out.  
Yeah right. What would Angel say if she saw Mimi acting so spinelessly? That thought didn't help at all. Mimi really needed someone to talk to.  
Mark, Collins, and Benny would be no help, they would be sure to see things more from Roger's side since they were friends with him longer. Maureen would over-react and spaz out, no doubt. Jodie wouldn't really understand. She was nice and all, but she had only known them all for about a month.  
Joanne seemed like Mimi's best bet to talk to. After all, she'd been there before, hadn't she? But Mimi had no idea when she'd be able to talk to her. She worked almost as much as Roger. With the difference of she actually took breaks and then she spent time with Maureen.  
Mimi was pretty much alone in this. That made her feel, if possible, even worse.  
Mimi realized that she could hear footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw that someone was following her.  
"Hey!" she shouted to the figure and he gave a start and stared at her. "Do you mind?"  
"Sorry?" the figure asked, and Mimi realized it was Todd.  
"Stop following me!" Mimi snapped. She knew she was probably just taking her anger out on Todd, but she didn't care. Why was he following her, anyway?  
"I'm not following you… I'm walking home," he said apprehensively.  
"Where do you live?" Mimi asked. She wanted to make sure he didn't just make that up. Great, now she was paranoid.  
"On Avenue D," he said nervously, as if Mimi was going to randomly snap at him again.  
"Oh, sorry," Mimi continued walking.  
"If you don't mind me asking," Todd continued, running slightly to catch up with her, "Why are you walking home alone?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean, you have a boyfriend, right? So why is he letting you walk home from work alone at midnight? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"  
"I can take care of myself," Mimi said, giving him a mischievous smile.  
"It just doesn't seem like something a good boyfriend would do. I wouldn't do that."  
"Well, my boyfriend's at work. So that would make it a bit hard for him to walk me home, wouldn't it?" Mimi snapped. He had no right to say Roger was a bad boyfriend. He didn't even know him. Hell, he didn't even really know Mimi.  
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything…"  
They walked in silence for a while longer before Todd spoke again. It seemed he was determined to have a conversation with her.  
"Is something wrong?"  
"what?'  
"You just seem sort of preoccupied about something. Is everything ok?"  
Mimi stopped and stared at him. She barely knew this guy. Why did he care how she was doing? He was probably still looking for a date from her. It was painfully obvious that he still liked her. Normally, Mimi would have set the record straight. But the attention was nice. So she'd put up with it for a little longer. It was a pretty short walk home, after all.  
"Nothing. Just some problems at home. Nothing really,"  
"Boyfriend problems?"  
"No!" Mimi said, a little too fast and a little too loud. "Well, sort of. More, work problems than anything else."  
"Then why don't you quit?"  
"Not my work problems, his."  
"Oh. What's the problem?"  
Mimi hesitated. She really shouldn't be talking so much about her personal life with a complete stranger. But she really needed someone to talk to. And he seemed pretty nice. What harm could it do?  
"He just works all the time. We hardly ever go out like we used to."  
"Maybe you should dump him,"  
"No! I wont' do that. I love him, why should I leave him?" Mimi got too snapp-ish again. She knew Todd was just trying to help, but Mimi wouldn't leave Roger for the world. Even if she had to put up with some stuff.  
"Well, if someone wasn't giving me all the attention I deserved, I'd leave them. Especially if I was as great as you. You could have anybody, why should you have to settle for someone you never get to see?"  
Mimi hated Todd for making sense. She was also slightly flattered since he had said she was great. It had been a while since anyone had told her something like that.  
They soon arrived at Mimi's loft and separated, leaving Mimi to think about what Todd had said.  
She entered the loft to find it, of course, empty. But when she got into bed she found a note on her bedside table. 

_Mimi,  
Can you get Saturday night off?  
Roger_

Mimi was torn. First, she was confused. Roger ignores her for over a month, and now he wants to go out? Second, she was annoyed. Roger _ignores_ her for over a month, and _now_ he wants to go out? And he wants it to happen according to _his_ schedule? Well, maybe Mimi didn't want to go out on Saturday. On the other hand, she was happy. He had _finally_ set a date to go out with her. What the hell did that mean?  
Mimi decided she was just going to get the day off and go. Maybe things would actually start to get better.

* * *

The next day Mimi left for work to discover Todd standing outside her apartment building.  
"Are you stalking me?" Mimi asked, jokingly.  
"No, you just said you worked from nine to midnight. That's when I work. And my work is a few blocks from yours. So I figured I could walk you there and walk you back. You know, just in case."  
He seemed incredibly nervous about being so close to Mimi, but Mimi just smiled and walked with him. Mimi was a big girl, but it was nice to have someone to talk to. It made her feel less alone.

* * *

Mimi still barely ever saw Roger over the next few days. He was always working, practicing, or doing God knows what. And when he was home his mind always seemed somewhere else. Mimi hated it.  
The worst was Friday before he left for work. He was actually home between shifts, but the whole time he was on the phone. Then at 7:00 he grabbed his coat and headed out the door.  
"Where are you going?" Mimi called after him. She had been hoping she might be able to spend a little time with him tonight.  
"I… um… I have to go… Do something really quick before work," He sounded nervous. Again. Then he turned around and left.  
Mimi sat there, thinking. What had she done wrong? Why was he always ignoring her?  
Mimi was sick of sitting around, waiting for answers. When she got home tonight she was going to wait as long as it took for Roger to get home. And then she wasn't going to let him sleep until he talked to her. And if he didn't, she was gone, for good. She wasn't going to just sit around forever, waiting for nothing.

* * *

Mimi and Todd walked to Mimi's work together chatting as usual.  
"Ok," Todd said, "Now you definitely seem off. What's wrong?"  
"Nothing, I'm fine," Mimi lied. She was beginning to enjoy Todd's company. He was pretty nice, and a good friend. But that didn't mean she felt entirely comfortable confiding in all her relationship problems with him.  
"Ok, if you say so," he said, but he didn't seem entirely convinced.

* * *

After work Todd was standing outside the Cat Scratch Club waiting for Mimi.  
"Ready to go?" he asked. Mimi nodded and they started walking.  
"I'm kind of hungry, do you want to go get something to eat?" Todd asked. Mimi looked at him suspiciously. He seemed to realize what she was thinking because he immediately said "Just as friends. Your boyfriend doesn't have a problem with that, does he?"  
Actually, Roger would have a big problem with Mimi going to dinner with some guy he had never met and had asked Mimi out in the past. Especially after midnight. If Roger got home and Mimi wasn't there, he would probably freak. If he even noticed at all.  
Mimi was about to decline, when she started thinking.  
If she was honest with herself, Mimi was sick of this. She was sick of Roger not being around. She was sick of him hiding things from her. And she was sick of being at home alone, crying her eyes out and worried about where he was and what he was doing.  
Well, she was going to let _him_ do the worrying for a change. For once _he_ could stay up all night worrying about what _she_ was doing, instead of the other way around.  
"Sure, he shouldn't have a problem with that. But it's after midnight, where are we going to go where we can get just food without the loud music and partiers?"  
"I don't know. I just moved here three months ago. What about that place you mentioned Tuesday?"  
"The Life Café?" Mimi asked. That did sound like a good idea. Mimi hadn't been there in a while and they were open until 2:00 on Fridays, so it was an ideal place for midnight snackers. "Ok."

* * *

The two sat in the restaurant for a while just eating and talking. Mimi was really starting to like Todd. He was very considerate and was a very good listener. He wasn't like most of the guys Mimi had met who act like they're listening, when really all they're doing is staring at you planning their next move.  
Mimi almost enjoyed herself. The problem was, the more Mimi tried to forget about Roger and just have fun, the more she thought about Roger and the more miserable she got.  
And on top of it all, Mimi felt slightly guilty. It was painfully obvious that Todd still liked her, and Mimi was probably leading him on by getting dinner with him. But she got dinner with Mark, Collins, and Benny all the time, and there was nothing wrong with that, right?  
_Yeah, but this is different,_ a little voice said in her head. _You're just using him to make Roger jealous and get him angry. You're not actually having dinner with him for the sake of having dinner._  
Mimi managed to shut the voice up for most of the rest of the evening. She was shocked when a waiter came over and told them that they had to leave because they were closing. **(A/N: This chapter is already long enough, so I'm not putting in their actual conversation. That'll be put in the fourth chapter, which is Todd's POV of the week. It fits better there, anyway.)**  
"Wow, we've been here almost two hours?" Mimi asked.  
"Yeah… Wow, time flies when you're having fun, huh?"  
"Yep."  
The two began to walk home. Todd was oddly quiet and looked increasingly nervous again. Mimi was just about to ask if something was the matter when he grabbed her arm, turning her around and kissed her.  
Mimi was so shocked she couldn't think to do anything for a few seconds. Finally her brain comprehended what was going on she shoved Todd backward.  
"What the hell was that?!" she exclaimed, enraged.  
"Uh… I'm sorry… I just thought…" he had returned to the stuttering, nervous man Mimi had met one week ago as he tried to explain. But Mimi was too angry to wait for him to string two words together.  
"I told you I have a boyfriend! What the hell did you go an kiss me for?!"  
"You _actually_ have a boyfriend?" he asked, looking genuinely shocked.  
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Of course I have a boyfriend! Why would I say I didn't when I did? That's just stupid!"  
"I thought you said it so you wouldn't have to go out with me last week."  
Angry as Mimi felt, she felt a twinge of pity for him now. He must've spent a good portion of his life dealing with girls like Keisha and Mariah who thought he was just some dork who would never get a date. And this ended up making him think girls were all the same.  
"Well, I didn't. I have a boyfriend. His name is Roger. Here…" she dug in her purse and pulled out the photo she always kept in there. It was of her and Roger over a year ago the night they had their first date. **(A/N a still frame of that cute little scene in Mark's documentary with Mimi laughing at the camera and Roger telling him to shut it off. Only the part where they're both smiling.)**  
She handed Todd the picture trying to hold back her tears as she thought of how they weren't even close to being like that anymore. Todd looked at the picture solemnly and then handed the picture back to her.  
"Mimi, I am so sorry…"  
"It's ok." Mimi said, trying to cut him off.  
"I had no idea you actually had a boyfriend…"  
"It's ok."  
"Most girls do stuff like that so that they can get out of dates and…:  
"TODD! Stop! It's ok. Just don't let it happen again and we're good." That and if Roger doesn't find out.

* * *

Mimi entered the loft feeling miserable and guilty. For the first time she wanted to just get home and lay in bed by herself with no one bothering her.  
So, of course, this would be the one time she returned home to find the loft full of people. Mark was sitting on the couch with Jodie in his lap, her head resting against his shoulder looking like she would pass out at any second. Collins was sitting in an arm chair looking deep in thought. And Roger was on the phone with his back to the door chatting away. The odd thing was everyone looked (or, in Roger's case, since Mimi couldn't see his face, sounded) worried.  
Mark, Jodie, and Collins all looked up when Mimi walked in and stared at her. Mimi wondered how long she would have to wait before someone explained what the hell was going on and why everyone was worried.  
"You haven't?" Roger asked. He sounded like he was on the brink of a nervous break down. Mimi decided to stay quiet until he was off the phone. "Ok… If you see her will you call me?"  
"Roger…" Mark said, quietly behind him. Roger turned to him, looking like he was going to tell him to be quiet when he spotted Mimi.  
"Thank God…" he muttered, closing his eyes in relief. Then he returned to whoever as on the phone. ""Hey, Joanne. She just walked in the door. Ok, thanks. Tell Maureen sorry for waking her up." He said the last sentence with a trace of a laugh in his voice and Mimi almost smiled at the thought of what Maureen must've done when roger woke her up with a call at 2:30 am.  
Roger hung up the phone and immediately ran over to Mimi enveloping her in a tight hug. Now Mimi was confused. She came home two hours later than usual… and Roger hugs her? Why? Why wasn't he yelling at her? Why wasn't he asking her where she had been? Why wasn't he acting the way she wanted him to? This was making her feel guiltier than she already did.  
"Are you ok?" he asked when he finally pulled away from her. He still hadn't completely lost the look of worry he had seconds earlier.  
Mimi had absolutely no idea what to say. This was not what she had expected. She finally decided on the truth… Well, the broad view, anyway.  
"I'm fine. A friend and I just stopped for a bite to eat after work," Mimi said.  
"Oh, ok."  
"Why the hell didn't you call?" Mark asked, finally speaking up. "You had us all worried sick. Roger almost had a heart attack."  
"And I'm about to pass out," Jodie added, yawning.  
"I'm sorry. I didn't think we'd be out as late as we were…" Now Mimi felt even worse. She hadn't counted on them all being home _tonight_, they never were before.  
"Well, as long as you're ok. But call next time, ok?" Mark said, giving her a small hug before he and Jodie retreated to his bedroom.  
"I'm going to go to bed too," Collins said getting up and walking over to the small niche they had turned into a "bedroom" by hanging a sheet in front of it. "Good-night you two."  
"I'm going to go… get ready for bed…" Mimi said awkwardly. It was weird. Mimi never felt awkward around Roger. Not since the night after he had kicked her out of his apartment, anyway.  
Twenty minutes later Mimi lay in bed feeling absolutely miserable. The night had pretty much been the opposite of what she thought it would be. She wanted to make Roger worry about her, but not like _this_. She wanted him to wonder if she was out with some other guy, not think she was lying in an alley somewhere, dead.  
Then she remembered the kiss and she felt, if possible, even worse. She wondered what she should do. After tonight Roger probably deserved and explanation, but she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him. But that might get him to admit to her what he's been doing. And it might actually help her feel better. And he definitely deserved to know.  
"Roger," Mimi said, sitting up and shaking him slightly.  
"Hmmm.. Whatisit?" he asked sleepily, turning over to look at her, "What's wrong?"  
"I have to talk to you."  
"Can we talk tomorrow? It's three in the morning."  
"No, we can't talk tomorrow. You always say that and we never do. Because you're always gone and even when you are here you don't listen and I really need to talk to you!" she was getting more and more hysterical with every word she said and was practically shouting at him by the time she was finished.  
Roger sat up and looked at her. "Ok, what's up?"  
Great, now Mimi couldn't get the words out. Maybe this would've been easier if she'd just said it to him while they were laying down. While he wasn't staring at her with concern in his eyes. Damnit, why did he have to worry about her? It just made her feel worse.  
"Another guy kissed me." she said quickly, hoping Roger would think she had said something else and the conversation would be over and the two could go to bed.  
The look on his face, however, told her differently. What, though, she couldn't figure out. He didn't look mad. He didn't look sad, either. In fact he didn't look upset at all. He just looked like someone had hit him over the head with a baseball bat.  
"Roger?" she asked tentatively, afraid of an explosion.  
"Um… Another guy… kissed you?" Roger asked, looking like it was the most complicated thing in the world to understand.  
"Yes."  
"How?"  
"You did not seriously just ask me that, did you?"  
"I mean, how did that end up happening? Were you just walking down the street and some random guy kissed you?"  
"No," Great, now Mimi had to tell him everything. She had a feeling what she had told Todd last week was probably about to come true.  
"Ok, last week I was getting off work and Mariah, Keisha, and I were walking out when this guy, Todd, came up to me and asked me out. And he was really sweet, too. Not like most of the guys there. He just looked really shy and nervous. He probably hardly ever actually got a 'yes' answer to that."  
"So, you said 'yes' because you didn't want to hurt his feelings?"  
"What?! No! I told him 'no' and said I had a boyfriend. Then all week he's been walking me to and from work."  
"Why?" Roger asked, suddenly sounding worried.  
"Because we work the same hours and my work is on the way to his work and he lives over on Avenue D, so our loft is also on the way to his work."  
Roger looked at her with a calculating look.  
"I'm telling the truth!" Mimi exclaimed.  
"I'm not doubting _you_," Roger said. He noticed the look Mimi gave him and decided to explain himself, "It's just too… convenient… It's weird."  
"Whatever, that's what it is," Mimi said, continuing, "Then today after work he asked if I wanted to get something to eat and I said 'yes' and when we were walking home he kissed me."  
Mimi wondered if Roger would believe her. Judging from experience, he wouldn't. he got all quiet again, thinking.  
"He… kissed you?"  
"Yes."  
"Did you kiss him back?'  
"No!"  
"Ok, then what's the problem?"  
"That's it?!"  
"Yes, why?"  
"Last year, I came home ten minutes late and you go off on me for cheating. Now I come home over two hours late and a guy kissed me, and that's it?"  
"Do you _want_ me to yell at you?" Roger asked, confused.  
"No…"  
"Then I still don't see what the problem is. I trust you. I know you wouldn't cheat on me."  
Now Mimi was confused.  
"Just one thing I _don't_ understand. Why did you go on that date with him in the first place?"  
"It wasn't a date! It was just two friends getting dinner together."  
"Bullshit, Mimi. That was more than just 'two friends getting dinner together' to him, and you know it!"  
Now he seemed to be getting a little angry. And Mimi could actually see why. Damn. This really wasn't going well.  
Roger was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. She could see he wasn't really mad, he was just frustrated. This seemed like the perfect time to bring up what had been bothering her, but she couldn't seem to talk again.  
"Because… He paid attention to me."  
"He _what?_" Roger asked, that was definitely the last thing he had expected.  
"He actually paid attention to me. And he talked to me. And then he listened to me. He made me feel special."  
Roger stared at her like she was insane.  
"Isn't that what _I'm_ for?" he asked, confused.  
"In theory, yes," Mimi said, exasperatedly. Then she just spilled everything.  
"Roger. You're never around anymore!"  
"Yes I am…"  
"No, you're not. You're always at work, or band practice, or a gig, or God knows where! When you're home you're either sleeping, talking on the phone, or completely ignoring me. You avoid every question I've ever shot at you and every attempt I've made at actually talking to you. We never go out anymore. We never talk to each other. We never just sit and be with each other like we used to. We just don't do _anything_ together. And that's a really lonely feeling," she was practically in tears now and she finally spilled her biggest concern, "Is there someone else?"  
She didn't need to actually hear Roger's answer. The shocker look of hurt on his face was enough to tell her she was dead wrong about that.  
"No. Of course not. Mimi, I love you. You're the only one for me. How could you even think that?'  
"Do I really have to repeat everything I just said?" Mimi asked, with a slight laugh.  
"No, you don't," Roger, said smiling. Then he pulled Mimi close to him and just held her there. "I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize… I promise we'll spend more time together."  
"That's what you said at New Year's." Mimi reminded him.  
"I mean it this time. OK? We'll spend as much time as we can together and I'll stop working so much so we can actually do that."  
"Ok. I just don't understand why you have to work so much."  
"Because we need the money."  
"Roger, you're not the only one who works. I work at the Cat Scratch Club; Collins works at the university; Mark got that new job at Jodie's aunt's news studio. You're not the sole provider here, you don't have to work yourself to death."  
"I know. But it's really important."  
Mimi had no idea _what the hell_ he meant by that. Roger hated money. It went against everything he stood for. He only worked for it because the rest of the world demanded it for the things they all needed. She decided not to ask him about it, not wanting to start another argument this late.  
"Is it so important we have to lose each other?"  
"No, it's not. At all. Nothing's so important I have to lose you."  
They sat there for a bit just holding each other before finally deciding to lay down and go to sleep.  
Mimi was just drifting off when Roger interrupted her thoughts.  
"By the way, Mimi. Did you get tomorrow off?"  
"Shit… No, I forgot… I'm sorry."  
"Oh, It's ok. We can go out some other time," but Mimi could tell in the sound of his voice that he sounded disappointed. More disappointed than he should.  
"What the hell is so goddamn special about tomorrow, anyway?"  
Roger stared at her like she was insane again.  
"It's Valentine's Day."  
"Shit! I'm so sorry."  
"It's ok."  
"I thought the guy was supposed to forget that."  
"I guess not always," he laughed.  
"I'll get it off, I promise. Even if I have to quit."  
"Awww, what a shame that would be," Roger said failing at attempting to sound upset. Mimi smiled, she knew how much he hated her job.  
"Well, don't get your hopes up. I'm one of Kyle's best dancers. He's not going to fire me over wanting one night off. He's a jackass, not a moron."  
Roger laughed and she rolled over to finally sleep, looking at the clock and noticing it said four am. She groaned inwardly. Tomorrow was going to be hell waking up.  
She felt Roger wrap his arms around her, pulling her closer to him.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear.

"I love you too," Mimi told him, smiling. Things were finally starting to get better.

* * *

_There. The fighting/distance/whatever you want to call it thing only lasted for, like, two chapters. I told you things would get better. The next chapter is mountains and mountains of fluff and then we get into the good stuff. (And by good, I mean the actual plot. Please don't kill me for some things I may or may not do. Hey, what's a story without a little bit of conflict, right?) I'll have the third chapter up today within the next half hour. it's done, but when I transfer it I have to re-bold and re-italicize everything and add in lines. Which takes a surprisingly long time._


	3. Perfect

_Ok, here's chapter three. Like I said it is filled with mountains of fluffy goodness. Enjoy._

* * *

Mimi woke up and looked at the clock on her bedside table. 11:30 am. She groaned and rolled over, thinking she had tog et up but didn't want to. She was so damn tired. Why did she stay out until two am?

It took a few minutes before Mimi registered she was lying in bed alone. She sighed and wondered if Roger was at work already… or getting ready… or… whatever, She didn't care, she just wanted some sleep. Then she remembered he said he had the day off today.

Mimi was just wondering where he was when she heard the door open. She rolled over to see who was coming in and saw Roger walking in the room with a tray of food.

"I made you breakfast," he said, showing is knack for pointing out the obvious. **(A/N, Am I the only one who laughs hysterically when he points out that Benny "Took all [their stuff" in the movie:p)**

"You didn't have to do that," Mimi said, propping herself up in bed as Roger laid the tray across her lap.

"Yes, I did. And don't act like that, because I know you like it,"

Mimi had no argument there. She loved Roger's cooking. He was, surprisingly good at it. He had spent most of his childhood hanging out in the kitchen with his cook/maid/nanny, Marie, so he knew a lot about cooking. He would always make really good and dinners and Mimi would usually bake some dessert to go with it, since she was much better at baking desserts than dinners and Roger was pretty much the exact opposite.

"So, what are we doing today?" Mimi asked as she ate.

"It's a surprise."

"Ooh, I love surprises."

"Which is why I'm not telling you what it is."

"Makes sense."

The two laughed and Mimi continued eating. When Mimi was finished she got into a 20 minutes battle over the phone with her boss, Kyle, about not showing up to work that day. Finally he let her have the night off is she agreed to work a double shift the following Saturday.

Then she jumped in the shower and tried to do something with her hair. It was always frizzy and all over the place. She finally decided to just let it go. Roger liked her hair like this, anyway.

She couldn't decide what to wear since she had no idea what she and Roger would be doing. She finally decided on her purple dress and pulled her purple see-through top on over it and her blue sweater. **(A/N: La Vie Bohem outfit.) **Roger always said that was his favorite outfit of hers. Mimi had no idea why. It wasn't particularly sexy and there were holes in her tights and a few tears in her shirt. But he liked it, so she wore it.

"Ready to go?" Roger asked her as she walked out of the bathroom. He smiled when he saw she was wearing his favorite outfit of hers.

"Yep, where are we going?"

"I already told you, it's a surprise."

The two walked together for a while talking about pretty much everything. After a while they arrived at the Central Park ice rink.

"Are we going ice skating?" Mimi asked.

"Why else would I bring you to an ice rink?" he replied. He smiled as Mimi gave a small squeal of happiness and jumped up slightly. She loved ice skating, but they hardly ever went because Roger hated it.

"Are you sure you can stay up this time?" Mimi asked him jokingly as they got some skates.

"Yes, I've been practicing during my free time."

"Which explains why you never came home in between shifts," Mimi wondered aloud.

"Would you rather I fall all over the place bringing us both down while we skate?" Roger asked as he laced his skates up. He hated that part. There were so many stupid metal things. **(A/N: And why? They seem quite useless, I **_**hate **_**those things. Why can't they just have normal shoe laces:p)**

"No," Mimi said, lacing her own up. Then she grabbed Roger's hand and they made their way over to the rink. It had started snowing and snowflakes were getting caught in Mimi's hair and gathering on her open coat. **(A/N: Another thing I've always noticed. Is Mimi's coat broken or something? Because she never has it zipped up. She must be cold often. :p)**

"I see you're wearing my favorite outfit," Roger commented after a few minutes of silent skating.

"Yep," Mimi said, smiling at how well she still knew him. Then, barely able to contain herself any longer she asked "Why is this your favorite outfit, anyway? I'd think you'd like something more… risqué."

"And I do love those outfits. But you wore _that_ on our first date. It just always reminds me of the night when I see you wear it."

"Awww, that's so adorably romantic," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, please don't let the guys know…"

Mimi laughed and the two continued their skating.

* * *

Two hours later the happy couple entered the Nectar Coffee Shop and ordered two hot chocolates, which was very welcome after spending over two hours out in the freezing cold of New York. 

"I love hot chocolate. We need to make this stuff more often at home," Mimi commented, warming her hands on the sides of her mug.

"Marie used to have this great recipe for hot chocolate. If I ever see her again I'll have to remember to ask her for it," Roger then got this thoughtful look on his face and Mimi knew he was reminiscing about the good experiences he had had in his household. They always involved either Marie or his younger sister, Rebecca. Roger never said anything good about his parents. In fact, he never talked about them much at all.

"Why don't you ever go back and visit?"

"Yeah, right. That would require seeing my parents. They're the whole reason I stayed in New York." See?

"Hmmm," Mimi replied thoughtfully, not pressing the subject. That would more likely than not bring up her own childhood, which she wasn't too fond of.

They sat in the shop for a while just talking again. Mimi loved how much they were talking. For once that year they were actually communicating and Mimi was constantly reminded of why she loved Roger so much.

"So, what do we do now?" Mimi asked after all their hot chocolate had been drunk and they had, judging by the man behind the counter's looks, well outlived their welcome.

"What do you want to do?" he replied.

"I get to choose?"

"Of course, you didn't think I'd just make you do everything I wanted to do for the day, did you?"

"Hmmm, let's go to the movies."

"Ok, what do you want to see?"

"Titanic," Mimi said, remembering Tricia going on about it being a romance film. **(A/N: "My heart Will Go On" just came on my radio station as I was writing this. :p)**

"Ok," Roger threw some bills down on the table, put his arm around Mimi and the two walked back out into the cold. **(A/N: I have no idea if that coffee shop has waiters or not, but it makes for a nice exit. :p)**

"Why does every restaurant we go to invoke the wrath of whomever is working there?" Roger asked after a few minutes' silent walking.

"You noticed that too? Jeez, it's not like we were even being loud and disruptive. We were just sitting there talking."

"God forbid we take up table space that could go to another potential customer," Roger scoffed, once again showing his contempt for money and everything that surrounds it.

"Mmm, popcorn," Mimi immediately said as they entered the crowded movie theater lobby. **(A/N: Are there, or are there not, few things better than walking into a warm movie theater lobby with the smell of popcorn on a freezing cold Winter's day:p It's one of my little joys in life. :p)**

"Yes, Mimi, you'll find their in most movie theaters for some weird reason," Mimi lightly swatted his arm and went to get in line for popcorn while Roger bought the tickets.

"This movie is over three hours long," Roger informed her after joining her in the long concession line.

"So? That means more time together."

"Mimi, we're spending the whole day together no matter what. This is just more time together where we have to be deathly quiet or you get 'the look'."

"And what is 'the look'?" Mimi asked.

"You know, that look that people give you when you talk. Like you just killed a litter of kittens or something else equally horrible."

Mimi laughed. "Well, then I guess that just means you're going to have to stay quiet."

"You say that like it's easy."

Twenty minutes later the two were sitting in their seats munching on popcorn and waiting for the movie to start.

"Can you believe that lady in front of us?" Roger asked, referring to the lady that had taken ten minutes to order and get all of her food, "I mean, my God! She ordered three bags of popcorn, two hotdogs, one nachos, fifty thousand candies! Why would she need that much food in a theater? She's going without food for three hours, not crossing the Sahara!"  
"I know," Mimi laughed," I'm surprised she didn't ask for a pack mule to help her get everything to her seat." **(A/N: I stole this from Ellen DeGeneres. She is so hilarious. :p)**

The couple passed the time waiting for the movie to start by practicing throwing popcorn into the air and catching it in their mouths and laughing about past "cinema adventures", as Roger called them. **(A/N: I love Dane Cook as well. One of the funniest skits EVER. :p) **They decided to stop their popcorn game when Mimi managed hit the woman behind them in the eye with a piece of popcorn. Mimi turned to apologize and realized, to her horror, that it was the woman with 50 pounds of food from the snack line.

Mimi immediately turned around quickly and said quietly to Roger "How long has she been sitting there?"

"Who?" he asked turning around. Then he gave a small start and returned immediately back to staring in front of him.

"Oh shit," he muttered.

"This is going to be fun," Mimi giggled.

The movie finally started and Mimi snuggled close to Roger, resting her head on his shoulder, much to the annoyance to the woman behind them.

"Excuse me," she snapped at them ten minutes into the movie, "Do you mind sitting up like normal people? You're blocking my view!"

Mimi and Roger looked around at the rest of the theater, which was mostly comprised of couples, who were all sitting the exact same way Mimi and Roger were.

"Yeah," they both answered simultaneously and returned to their earlier positions.

"Listen, just because you two feel the need to cuddle up to each other is no reason to ruin the movie for _me_." The lady completely ignored the fact that people were given her "the look."

Roger was about to give her a retort, but Mimi beat him to the punch.

"Listen, lady. Just because you're alone and have no one to spend Valentine's Day with and have to make up for it by buying out half the concession stand is no reason to take it out on the rest of us by ruining the movie for _us_ with your big mouth!"

She was surprised to find practically the entire theater burst into applause for her when she was done. Smiling slightly, she turned back to the movie, snuggling back up to Roger.

"Have I told you lately how unbelievably amazing you are?" Roger asked her once he had regained speech control.

"Maybe, I don't remember…" she answered playfully.

"Well, you are. I love you," he added, kissing her slightly.

The movie was long. _Very_ long. It would've been unbearable if it hadn't been so interesting. But Tricia was right. It was _very_ good… And romantic… And tragic… And sad… And the effects were great… And Leonardo DiCaprio _was_ pretty hot. But Tricia was right about something else: Mimi didn't need him. She had Roger and he was ten times better, and definitely hotter.

"So, did you like it?" Roger asked as soon as the credits started rolling.

"Yeah… That was so sad," Mimi managed to choke out in between tears, "What did you think?"

"It was ok."

"Ok? How could you think that was only ok? That movie had, like, everything you could ever want in a movie! How can it only be 'ok'?"

"Because it made you cry. And I hate it when you cry."

"Awww, that's so sweet," Mimi said as she began to cry even harder.

"Ok, that was not the reaction I wanted," Roger said and he leaned forward to wipe the tears off Mimi's cheeks. "Come on. We'd better go before we start getting dirty looks from the movie clean-up crew as well."

That made Mimi laugh and finally stopped the crying. The couple walked out into the cold hand-in-hand to find that all trace of daylight had now left the city.

"Wow, it's 8:30," Roger said, checking his watch, "Was the movie really _that_ long?"

"Yep… I'm hungry, is dinner on the agenda?" Mimi asked innocently.

"Of course. How can you have a Valentine's Day without dinner?"

"Where are we going?"

"I was think the Life Café, if that's ok with you?"

"We go there all the time."

"No, not anymore. We used to go there all the time. We haven't been there in about six months. Well, not together, anyway."

"Ok, that makes sense. But why are we going for Valentine's Day?"

"Three reasons: One, that was where we had our first date; two, it was Angel's favorite restaurant and without her there would be no 'us' to go out tonight."

"Without her there would be no 'me' to go out tonight," Mimi reminded him, making him shiver slightly. She drew closer to him and asked "So, what's the third reason?"

"That's also the place where I first realized how much I love you."

"Really?" Mimi asked interestedly. He had never told her that before.

"Yeah, I know it took me a while. But I got there in the end."

Mimi laughed and the two continued their walking.

* * *

"Hey, he didn't glare at us this time," Mimi observed as the two took their seats at a table near the back. 

"Probably because there are only two of us this time. And we didn't ask for extra room, so he knows it's going to be just us."

"'Finally, a quiet night!'" Mimi exclaimed in an almost perfect imitation of the manager.

"Ok, _now_ he's glaring," Roger said and the two had to fight hard to not burst out laughing.

The two ordered their food and then spent their time talking some more.

"Mimi?" a voice suddenly said. Mimi gave a small start and looked next to her to see Todd standing next to her table.

"Todd! Hi, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I liked the food, so I thought I'd come back here to eat something before I left for work. I can't cook, so it was a better idea than burning my apartment down."

Mimi laughed. Then, noticing the odd looks Todd was giving Roger, she decided she'd better introduce them.

"Todd, this is my boyfriend, Roger. Roger, this is Todd, my friend who's been walking me home every night," she really hoped an explosion wasn't coming.

She could tell from the way Roger was looking at him that he didn't like Todd at all. But he made an attempt at keeping things civil between the two of them and decided against his better judgment of beating Todd to a pulp.

"Nice to meet you," he said, putting on a smile and reaching a hand out to shake Todd's.

Todd took his hand hesitantly and shook for a short time before quickly pulling his hand back as if he had been electrocuted.

"Well, I'd better get going. I have to go to work," Todd finally said. He looked upset, almost to the point of hopelessness and there was a look in his eyes that Mimi couldn't quite read. She wondered if meeting Roger had been the final proof he needed to know he and Mimi would never be.

He turned around and disappeared into the crowd of people. Mimi felt some pity for him, but she was sure he would find someone perfect for him eventually.

"So, he seems… Nice," Roger said, attempting to start a conversation again.

"Thanks for trying, at least," Mimi said, giving him a weak smile.

"He didn't seem to like me very much."

"Gee, I wonder why. The look you were giving him would've scared anybody."

"Oh please. It wasn't _that _bad. And I stopped myself. I just kind of lost control. He's lucky I didn't punch him. That's what I would've done last year."

"I know. But he's really shy. So everything is magnified to twenty times worse than they actually are. So to him, you were trying to kill him with your eyes."

"You've known this guy a week and already you're psychologically analyzing him?"

"Hmm, maybe I should be a psychiatrist," Mimi wondered aloud, causing them to laugh again.

The subject of Todd wasn't brought up again for the rest of the night. They just ate their food still keeping up the stream of conversation, but only subjects that wouldn't end up being awkward.

Mimi couldn't help but noticed how Roger was staring at her more than usual.

"What?" she asked finally, after 45 minutes of this.

"Nothing… You just look really nice tonight."

Mimi looked down at the outfit she was wearing and couldn't help but think of her frizzy hair. "Ok," she laughed.

"What? You really do, I mean it."

"You're crazy."

"You don't know how beautiful you are, and _I'm_ the crazy one?"

That just made her laugh even harder. The waiter showed up with their check and gave Mimi a weird look as she continued to laugh uncontrollably.

"What's with her?" he asked.

"Nothing, you know Mimi just. She finds a reason to laugh in every occasion," Roger told him, watching Mimi lovingly.

"Yeah, that's true. Well, I'll see you guys. Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day," they both told him, Mimi's laughing subsiding slightly.

"I honestly have no idea why that was so funny," Roger said, still staring at her.

"Yeah, neither do I…" Then they were both laughing.

"Ok, let's go," Roger said and he paid their bill before dropping some money on the table, taking Mimi's hand and walking out the door with her.

Mimi was surprised to find Roger was leading her, not out the front door which they came in, but the back door out into the alley behind the restaurant.

"Why are we out here?" Mimi asked. Leaving out the front door would've been closer to the loft and made more sense since it's the front door.

"This is where we had our first kiss," Roger said, turning to look at her. Snow was still falling from the dark night's sky, invisible until they entered the light of the streetlamp.

Mimi turned to begin walking out of the alleyway, but Roger grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.

"What?" Mimi asked, giggling slightly. Now Roger looked _really_ nervous. He took Mimi's hand in his and then took a deep breath before speaking.

"Mimi, I love you…"

"I love you to…" Mimi began, before he cut her off.

"I'm not done."

"Ok," she was getting a little nervous herself now.

"I love you more than I thought it was even possible to love someone. You're the most important person in the world to me- ever. I love you so much. I love you more than the air I breathe, I would die without you. I hate every second we're apart and I always want to be with you. So…"

He got onto one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket.

"Will you marry me?"

Mimi froze. She definitely didn't see that one coming. It was a while before she could speak finally.

"Oh my God…"

"Is that a 'yes?" Roger asked, a confused look on his face.

"Yes!" she practically shouted. Roger jumped up happily and kissed her, slipping the ring onto her finger and placing the now empty box into his pocket.

They stood there in the gently falling snow kissing for a while before finally breaking apart for air. Mimi leaned her head on Roger's shoulder and stood there watching her ring shine in the streetlamp.

"How did you afford this?' she asked, unable to hold the question in.

"That's not important."

"I want to know."

"All right. I worked double shifts and overtime at the bar."

Mimi could feel her eyes double in size.

"Oh my god!" she said, grabbing her head and jumping backwards. This whole time she thought Roger was cheating on her, and he was working to buy her an engagement ring! "I'm a terrible girlfriend!"

"No you're not. You're great." Roger said, holding her and trying to comfort her, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked you to marry me."

"I guess…"

They stood there in silence for a while before and an idea hit Mimi.

"So… You've got our first date… our first kiss… What about the first time we…" Mimi let the question hang in the air and smiled at Roger, waiting for him to work it out.

"Oh! That's next," he said, smiling suggestively. He took her hand and the two started walking home.

The couple had barely made it to the outside of their apartment building before Roger had Mimi pressed against the door, making out with her furiously.

Roger moved his kisses down to Mimi's neck, giving her a chance to speak finally.

"You know… We should probably move this inside… People are starting to stare…" she was mostly referring to a figure standing outside the Laundromat across the street, seemingly staring at them.

"So," Roger panted, pulling back, "I want the whole world to know that I am in love with Mimi Marquez."

Mimi laughed, before taking her key out and the two headed up to their apartment.

* * *

They somehow managed to make it up the stairs and into their bedroom while still making out. **(A/N: You can see an example of how they have perfected the art of "Walking-and-Kissing" in the movie after Mark asked them for their New Year's resolutions. :p)**

They collapsed onto the bed, removing each other's clothes, still kissing.

"I love you," Roger said, breaking away for a few seconds.

"I love you too," Mimi smiled and they began kissing again.

* * *

Two hours later the couple lay curled against each other, enjoying each other's company. The snow had stopped and a slant of moonlight fell across their bed from the small window in their bedroom.

Mimi had her head resting on Roger's chest and was admiring the way the moonlight reflected off her ring, smiling.

Roger had one arm wrapped around her and was playing with her hair. He smiled as he stared at Mimi. Beautiful as she always looked, there was something about moonlight that made her look even more gorgeous. He kissed her lightly and then returned to playing with her hair.

Mimi could never remember being happier. She had her Roger back and they were getting married. Just three months ago she never thought she would end up being married, let alone to Roger.

Most of all, she couldn't believe that she had _ever_ doubted Roger's feelings for her.

* * *

_The next chapter is where the actual plot starts rolling and all the (hopefully) creepy, good stuff happens. I'll try and get it up as soon as I possibly can._  



	4. Won't Let You Go

_Wow, this chapter is waaaaay longer than I ever intended it to be. It's, like, 13 pages on my Microsoft word. I'm sorry, that made it take a while. There also may be some mistakes since I still haven't found a replacement beta-reader, so I had to proof it myself_._ Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy. :)_

* * *

_Todd's POV_

_Saturday Night_

_She's so amazing. So perfect. How could it be possible that someone like her actually exists in the world? And now I actually had a name for her! She wasn't just some nameless face I constantly dreamed about._

_I was still thinking about Mimi twenty minutes later as I pushed the key into the lock of my apartment. I entered to find, unsurprisingly, the light on my answering machine blinking to let me know I had a new message. I rewound the tape and listened._

"_Hi, honey. It's your mother…"_

_Who else would it be? I have no one else to have call… No other family who care… No friends… No girlfriend… Well, yet, at least._

"_I was just wondering how you were doing. You're always gone, it's 9:00 at night, why aren't you home? Did you get a job? Honey, you know I told you not to worry about that. Your father and I have you covered."_

_Most people would have a problem with their parents being their sole supporter even after moving out, but not me. My parents took care of me my entire life. So when I first got to New York City and wasn't able to support myself yet, I was more than happy to let them continue the ritual._

_I had to get a job sometime, of course. But then I saw Mimi. And all I wanted was to watch her. I have no time for a job._

"_Have you made any friends yet? You know, you hardly ever tell us much about your life there, you just ask about life here. Well, tomorrow when you call me back I want to hear all about your New York lifestyle."_

_The machine beeped to signal the message's end and I stood there thinking._

_The last thing I wanted to tell my parents was that even in new York City I was a total loser who couldn't do anything. Who couldn't get a job, make friends, or (the near impossible) get a girlfriend. _

_But she would just keep nagging me until I told her _something

_So, I would tell her… To an extent. Boy, tomorrow's going to be tons of fun…_

* * *

_ I waited for someone to pick up the phone. Preferably my mother. My father wasn't as willing to let me live off of them, especially from such a distance, and that made him the most likely to press me to, for lack of better wording, get a life._

"_Hello." Score! It's mom._

"_Hey, mom. It's Todd." _

_She squealed, very loudly._

"_Todd, baby how are you?"_

"_I'm fine mom," just like yesterday when I called her back the day after receiving a message the night getting back from watching Mimi. This was pretty much routine by now._

"_So, how is life in New York City? And I want to hear everything this time."_

_So I started talking about the things I would do during the day when Mimi wasn't working. I would wake up, eat breakfast-usually some cereal. After that I would go for a walk in the park. Sometimes I would look around in the shops, usually looking for something to buy for her, or Dad. She must know this part, since I had already sent her a scarf, necklace, and an interesting book I thought she might enjoy._

_Then I would stop by some café for lunch and go home to clean up a bit and sometimes do some laundry. I tried to lay it on extra thick how much work I had to do around the house and how much I appreciated her cleaning up after me for the Twenty years I lived with them, so she wouldn't begin to think I was a bum._

_I left out the part about going to the Cat Scratch Club every night. My parents would think that was a terrible waste of my time and be worried I was turning into some perverted freak. And my dad definitely wouldn't approve of me liking an S&M dancer; that made me angry… He didn't know her at all._

"_Well, it sounds nice, sweetie… Did you make any new friends?" she sounded like a hopeful mother who had just sent her young child off to school for the first time._

"_Yeah, I made a friend," ok, so I was lying a little. But I didn't want to make Mom worry about me._

"_Oh, that's wonderful! What's his name?"_

"_Her name is Mimi."_

"_A girl?" there was no denying the wondered curiosity in her voice. So I explained who Mimi was. Sort of. I explained how amazing she was. How she was so sweet and smart and brave. How she was the most gorgeous girl on the face of the planet and how she looked like an angel whenever she danced._

"_Dance? She dances? Where?" shit. That was a bad idea. What the hell was I thinking? I made up a lie that sounded convincing._

"_She dances at this dance studio near my apartment. She teaches classes there. That's where I met her. I was walking past when she was coming out."_

"_She sounds wonderful. So, is she just a friend… or something more?'_

"_Mom," I groaned, I did not want to be talking with her about this, "She's just a friend… but I'm hoping it'll be something more." That was a truth I could tell her. It would make her terribly happy and might stop her non-stop questioning._

"_Oh! That's wonderful. I know she'll just adore being with you! Have you asked her out yet?'_

"_No," I lied, "I haven't gotten the nerve yet."_

"_Well get it quick before someone else snatches her up. She sounds like quite the catch."_

"_She is…" I said, unable to keep the awe out of my voice._

"_Well, I have to go now. I have some laundry to finish. You take care of yourself."_

"_Ok, Mom. I love you."_

"_I love you too." and with that she hung up._

* * *

_ Mimi wasn't at work later that day. She wasn't at work last Sunday, either. Maybe she had that day off every week… _

_I spotted those other two girls exiting the stage. One of them whispered to the other and then pointed over at me. Then they both started giggling and stalked off back-stage._

_I glared. They were so mean. Like practically every other girl I had ever met. I was so spineless. I had always let people tease me constantly and walk all over me. It was humiliating._

_Midnight rolled around and the girls with the final shift came out. Mimi wasn't among them. So she must not be working tonight. _

_Oh well. It's not like anything will have changed since yesterday. I'll just come back tomorrow. She's sure to be back by then._

* * *

_ I was right. Monday night Mimi was back. She looked sad, though. Sadder than usual, anyway. She didn't dance with as much enthusiasm and she left the club alone without her usual small group of friends._

_Suddenly I got the urge to follow her. This wasn't right. She shouldn't walk home alone. Something could happen to her. So I left the club and walked out the door following her down the street at a safe distance._

_We'd gone a few blocks before she noticed me. I'm not surprised. I don't exactly have enough grace to walk silently._

"_Hey!" she shouted at me. She took me by surprise and all I could do was stare at her. "Do you mind?"_

"_Sorry?" I asked, trying to play stupid. I needed to think up a reason for following her, and quick._

"_Stop following me!" she snapped_

"_I'm not following you… I'm walking home," There, that sounded like a reasonable response, right?_

"_Where do you live?" she asked. _

_Shit. Ok, what streets are in the direction she's heading?_

"_On Avenue D," I said nervously. That was pretty far away, so it gave me an excuse to walk with her a bit farther if she lived in Alphabet City, which seemed likely since that was where many of the dancers lived. I would hear them talking about the rent and how crappy the apartments were._

"_Oh, sorry," Mimi continued walking._

"_If you don't mind me asking," I continued, running slightly to catch up with her. I know I shouldn't push my luck, but I couldn't help it. I finally had her alone without any of her "friends." "Why are you walking home alone?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, you have a boyfriend, right?" better to play along with that. Maybe she'll see the trap she fell into and admit the truth, "So why is he letting you walk home from work alone at midnight? Isn't that a bit dangerous?"_

"_I can take care of myself," Mimi said, giving me a mischievous smile. I felt my heart stop for two seconds._

"_It just doesn't seem like something a good boyfriend would do," I said, re-composing myself, "I wouldn't do that."_

"_Well, my boyfriend's at work. So that would make it a bit hard for him to walk me home, wouldn't it?" Mimi snapped. _

_Ok, I didn't' expect such a bad reaction. Apparently I had hit a bad subject. She must not like being backed into a corner. But then, who does?_

"_I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything…"_

_We walked in silence for a while longer before I worked up enough courage to say something else. _

"_Is something wrong?"_

"_What?"_

"_You just seem sort of preoccupied about something. Is everything ok?"_

_Mimi stopped and stared at me. _

"_Nothing. Just some problems at home. Nothing really,"_

"_Boyfriend problems?" _

"_No!" Mimi said, a little too fast and a little too loud. Of course, it's impossible to have problems with someone who doesn't exist. "Well, sort of. More, work problems than anything else."_

"_Then why don't you quit?"_

"_Not my work problems, his."_

"_Oh. What's the problem?"_

_Mimi hesitated and stared at me. It seemed like she was trying to work out something to tell me to cover up her boyfriend story._

"_He just works all the time. We hardly ever go out like we used to." _

"_Maybe you should dump him," There. She doesn't have to admit she lied. She could just say she dumped him, I gave her an easy way out._

"_No! I won't do that. I love him, why should I leave him?" Damn. I was sure that would work. Maybe she didn't trust me enough yet._

"_Well, if someone wasn't giving me all the attention I deserved, I'd leave them. Especially if I was as great as you. You could have anybody, why should you have to settle for someone you never get to see?"_

_Mimi looked like she was thinking that over and we walked in silence again. Maybe I had finally gotten through to her._

_We turned onto Avenue B and she walked over to an industrial loft._

"_Well, this is my place. Bye," she said walking over to the door._

"_Bye," I said quietly. I'm not even sure if she heard me. _

_I stood outside for a little while staring up at the building. It had four floors, counting the ground floor. My question of which floor she lived on was answered five minutes later when a light in the top loft turned on. _

_So this is where she lives. The top floor of an industrial loft. She deserves better. I stood there for a while longer looking at the window, but unable to really see anything from a distance, before giving up and turning around to head home._

* * *

"_Hey mom," I said into the phone. I had made a decision and I had to follow through with it now. It would only take a little lying._

"_Hi, sweetie. How are you?"_

"_I'm ok. But, Mom, I got evicted," Ok, I hadn't gotten evicted. But Mimi was sure to notice at some point that I didn't live on Avenue D, so I had to move into an apartment over there. Besides, then I would be closer to her. I liked that idea._

"_Oh no! Why?"_

"_I don't know. I always paid my rent and everything. I just think the landlord doesn't like me. So I got a new apartment over on Avenue D."_

"_Avenue D? Honey, isn't that in the bad part of town?" I had been afraid of this reaction._

"_No, Mom. It's fine. Besides, it's closer to Mimi's apartment. So we'll be able to see each other more often." I knew I had her there. She wanted me to be close with any friends I could possibly have. And since Mimi was the only one, she would like this arrangement._

"_Well, all right. But I'm not sure I like it much."_

"_Mom, it'll be fine. Don't worry. Anyway, I just called to give you my new address," I had gone apartment hunting earlier that day and, thank God, there was an apartment for rent on Avenue D. It was perfect. It was small and had one bedroom, but was where I wanted it and up for grabs, so I moved in. I gave her the address and we talked a bit more about how things were going, both at home and in new York City._

_When I finally got her off the phone I barely had enough time to eat before running out the door and practically sprinting to Mimi's loft. I also had a plan to get closer to Mimi. Other than moving near her._

_Mimi seemed to really like attention. Obviously, why else would she pick that particular job? And she practically glowed every time I complimented her. So that's what I would do. Give her attention. I would walk her to and from work everyday, giving her attention and talking to her. She would realize how perfect we were for each other in no time._

_I stood outside for ten minutes before I saw her bound down the steps of her apartment. She seemed to be in a slightly better mood._

"_Are you stalking me?" she asked, once she had spotted me._

_I froze, worried. Is that what it looked like I was doing? Then I realized she was joking._

"_No, you just said you worked from nine to midnight. That's when I work," Once again, plausible, "And my work is a few blocks from yours. So I figured I could walk you there and walk you back. You know, just in case."_

_Mimi just smiled and walked with me. I was surprised. I was sure she would oppose, claiming to be a "big girl" and insist on walking alone. But she didn't, my plan was already working._

_I couldn't think of anything to say and finally I picked the most random subject I could've possibly chosen- favorite places to eat. **(A/N: Sorry if that seems random, I had to work it in somehow.) **What the hell is wrong with me?_

"_Well, it is New York City. So there are tons of different places. I love it. There's so much variety," she said, "My favorite place to eat is the Life Café. Their food is so good. My friends and I go there all the time. You should joins us sometime."_

"_Your work friends?" I asked tentatively, nervously. Surely she had other friends._

"_No, my other friends. My real friends. Keisha and Mariah are just girls I hang out with at work because we share a dressing room."_

"_Oh. Well, maybe I will join you all sometime, then." _

_That was practically a date, right? I figured I should wait a few more days before I made that attempt again, though._

* * *

_ Mimi and I walked to and from work everyday that week together. It was wonderful. I would walk her to the door and then wait a few minutes before going in and taking a seat in the back to watch._

_On Wednesday I got a wonderful idea. My mom always took pictures of me so she could, in her words, "be with me" when we were apart. That's what everyone uses photos for pretty much, right? _**(A/N: I hope that doesn't make his mom sound psycho, she's supposed to be sane. I just couldn't think of the proper way to word that. :p) **

_So I decided it would be a good idea to take some pictures of Mimi. Photos taken without poses are always much more natural, so I just took my camera with me when I went to the club with her and took pictures there. She's always so beautiful._

_We were walking home later that night talking (she was so easy for me to talk around, I was hardly nervous anymore.) when a shrill voice interrupted us._

"_Mimi!" _

_We both turned to see a girl with massive amounts of curly reddish-brown hair running towards us with a shopping bag in her hand._

"_Hi, Maureen," Mimi said, clearly this was one of her other friends. Maybe this one would be nice to me._

"_Who's this?" Maureen asked, eying me speculatively._

"_This is my friend, Todd. He lives near the loft, so we walk to and from work together. Todd, this is Maureen. She's one of my best friends."_

"_Hi," she said smiling brightly at me, but still having a hint of suspicion in her eyes. She must not think I'm good enough for Mimi. Just like the others._

_The whole walk to Mimi's apartment was now dominated by Maureen's talking. She never shut-up. I got a bit annoyed and a part of me wanted to just shove in front of one of the passing cars on the street. _

_I was just about to do it when I stopped and thought. That was a stupid idea. Mimi would most likely be pretty upset that I had shoved her friend in front of a car. And it was only one walk after all, she wouldn't be here every night. So I let her prattle on until we got to the street she turned on._

"_Well, I have to leave now. Bye Mimi. We have _got_ to get together sometime. I hardly see you! I know! We'll get together Sunday night. Just us girls, you, me, Joanne, and Jodie. It'll be great!" she seemed exceptionally excited about something, but maybe I was just imagining things._

"_Ok, it sounds great. Bye," Mimi said hugging her._

"_Bye. And nice meeting you, Todd," with that she turned and continued down the road, practically skipping._

"_Well… She's… perky," I said once we had started walking again._

_Mimi laughed._

"_Yeah, that's Maureen. But she's not normally that perky. I wonder what's up? Probably something big with her and Joanne…" she then got a peculiar look on her face. She looked both happy and sad at the same time._

_I knew the reason for that. Mimi had told me about Maureen the day before. Joanne was her girlfriend, and the two had some trouble a while back. So now seeing that the two of them were having a wonderful relationship made her slightly jealous. Well, I could fix that if she'd let me…_

_We said good-bye outside her apartment and I headed home, my prospects on our relationship a little brighter._

* * *

_ Friday night. This was it. The night I was going to re-ask Mimi out… Sort of. I wanted to take things slow at first. So I asked her on a friend date. She had seemed especially down earlier today, so I figured now would be the best time._

_I left the club early and stood outside, waiting for Mimi to come out. _

"_Ready to go?" I asked once I'd spotted her. Mimi nodded and we started walking._

"_I'm kind of hungry, do you want to go get something to eat?" I asked her, I could hear the nerves in my voice. I really hope this works. _

_Mimi looked at me suspiciously, so I decided to clarify it a bit, "Just as friends. Your boyfriend doesn't have a problem with that, does he?" I'll still go along with this whole "boyfriend" thing for as long as she needs._

"_Sure, he shouldn't have a problem with that," she said, smiling, "But it's after midnight, where are we going to go where we can get just food without the loud music and partiers?"_

"_I don't know. I just moved here three months ago. What about that place you mentioned Tuesday?"_

"_The Life Café?" Mimi asked. "Ok."_

* * *

_ Ok, so I lied a bit. Ever since Mimi told me about her and her friends coming here all the time I did too. I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner here everyday since then, hoping to see Mimi and catch her in a non-work setting (whether pre-, during, or post-)_

_We sat down and ordered our food, the waiter giving us (or, rather, Mimi) an odd look. He obviously knew Mimi and must have been surprised to see her here with someone like me._

"_So," I said after a long and slightly uncomfortable silence. It seemed Mimi was thinking really hard about something, "What's bothering you?"_

"_Huh?" she said, pulling out of her reverie._

"_I said 'What's bothering you?' You seem upset."_

"_I'm not upset… Well, not _very_ upset…"_

"_What's wrong?" I asked again. I hated that she felt she couldn't tell me whatever was on her mind._

"_It's my boyfriend."_

"_Oh. What this time?"_

"_Same thing," she sighed, looking miserable._

"_Mimi, if he makes you this unhappy you should just leave him. You deserve better."_

"_I told you, I can't do that!" she was getting angry now._

"_Why not?" I challenged. I know I shouldn't be backing her into a corner like this, I'm getting a little sick of her boyfriend act; especially if she blames her emotions on him._

"_You wouldn't understand."_

"_Try me."_

"_I just love him too much."_

"_What about him is so great?" There. That'll catch her lie. I probably shouldn't be forcing this out of her, but I'm tired of waiting._**(A/N: After a whole six days, too… Amazing how much patience that boy has. :p)**

"_Just… everything. His smile, his eyes, his laugh… The way he just sits on the couch playing the guitar for hours on end trying to come up with a song; he looks so cute when he's frustrated," she laughed slightly at that and got a weird look on her face that I assume meant she was thinking of what to make up next._

"_He has the most amazing voice- when he sings and when he talks. And I just love being with him. We can sit on the couch for hours on end just being with each other. Not talking; not kissing; just sitting there, and we're both perfectly happy."_

_This is ridiculous. She's lying through her teeth now. If this guy she made up was as great as she made him out to be why was she so unhappy all the time. I had to do something to break her little fantasy._

"_If he's so great then why is he happy with you working at the Cat Scratch Club? I would never let my girlfriend work there." she laughed at that._

"_He's not! He hates it, with a passion. He's always trying to get me to quit, but we need the money and it pays really well, so I convinced him to let me stay."_

"_And he just lets you walk there alone and everything? And he's fine with guys staring at you all the time?"_

"_Actually, before he got a job he used to walk me to and from work everyday. Sometimes he'd even stay to make sure nothing happened to me during work. At least, he used to." Then she laughed again._

"_What?"_

"_Well, this one time Roger followed me to work and I didn't even know he was there. He knows how much I hate him following me to work. It makes me feel like a little child," she made a face and than continued with her story, looking happier than I'd seen her yet._

"_And there was a new girl working there, Tiffany. Anyway, Tiffany fell down, she still wasn't used to the high heels, and landed on some drunk on the side of the runway. He was _livid_. Most guys wouldn't mind a hot girl falling into their lap, but Tiffany spilled his drink all over him. So he stood up and started screaming at her and raised his fist to hit her. _

"_So I jumped down off the stage and started screaming at him. Then he raised his fist back to hit me, but before he'd even pulled it back all the way Roger had grabbed it and turned him around to punched him in the face, sending him flying backwards into one of the tables. He ended up breaking it." she started laughing again. I couldn't quite see what was so funny._

"_Kyle, my boss, was so pissed. Roger's been banned from the club ever since, so he can't come to watch me anymore." she sat there smiling, pleased it seemed to have come up with such a great story._

_We spent the rest of the dinner making casual conversation; I made sure to avoid the subject of her imaginary boyfriend._

_After a while our waiter came over to inform us the restaurant was closing now._

"_Wow, we've been here almost two hours?" Mimi asked._

"_Yeah… Wow, time flies when you're having fun, huh?" _

"_Yep."_

_We began to walk home. I began thinking and came to the conclusion that Mimi was not going to give up this boyfriend façade (_**A/N: Is that, or is that not, a sweet word? I read it in New Moon a few weeks ago and I keep using it, it is such an awesome word. It's got this snazzy squiggly thing under the "c":p) **_so I had to make a move._

_Mimi turned towards me and I pulled her closer, leaning in to kiss her. I'm not sure what kind of reaction I was expecting, but it wasn't what happened. She shoved me backward and glared at me._

"_What the hell was that?!" she exclaimed, enraged._

"_Uh… I'm sorry… I just thought…" Great, now I angered her and she's going to hate me. What the hell was I thinking?!_

"_I told you I have a boyfriend! What the hell did you go an kiss me for?!"_

"_You _actually_ have a boyfriend?" I was so shocked my stuttering actually stopped and I felt my brain go numb._

"_What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Of course I have a boyfriend! Why would I say I didn't when I did? That's just stupid!" Ok, when she put it that way, it made sense…_

"_I thought you said it so you wouldn't have to go out with me last week."_

_She seemed to soften a bit at that._

"_Well, I didn't. I have a boyfriend. His name is Roger. Here…" she dug in her purse pulling out a photo and handed it to me. _

_I looked at the picture, not really seeing it. It was a fairly cute picture. Mimi was looking the happiest than I had seen her at any point throughout the week. She was laughing at the camera and sitting on the lap of a man with longish blond hair with a very distinct rocker look about him. So, that means she wasn't lying about the whole "playing the guitar" thing either._

_I didn't like him. At all. I didn't even have to meet him to know that this guy was no good for Mimi. He doesn't even care about her, I bet, he's just with her because she's hot and he wants some trophy girlfriend. After all, hadn't Mimi said he was practically ignoring her for a while?_

"_Mimi, I am so sorry…" better to apologize now and get myself out of the hot water I had fallen into. Then I can worry about saving Mimi from this guy._

"_It's ok," Mimi said, trying to cut me off, but I wouldn't let her. Better to make myself look deeply remorseful._

"_I had no idea you actually had a boyfriend…"_

"_It's ok."  
"Most girls do stuff like that so that they can get out of dates and…:_

"_TODD! Stop! It's ok. Just don't let it happen again and we're good." and with that she turned around and headed home._

* * *

_The next day I was at the Life Café, as usual. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do about Mimi and her fake boyfriend. Only now I knew he was fake, not because he didn't exist, but because he was nowhere near the type of boyfriend Mimi deserved._

_I highly doubted I would see Mimi here today, it was Valentine's Day. But if _Roger_ (I hate that name) is keeping up the ignoring game, then it's possible she might come here in an attempt to cheer herself up._

_What I definitely didn't expect to see, was a girl with massive amounts of curly reddish-brown hair entering through the door, chatting away incessantly to a black girl who looked to be the exact polar opposite of the first girl._

"_Todd!" Maureen squealed as she ran over to my table and sat down. I was surprised she remembered me. "Hey, how are you? Joanne, this is Todd; Todd, this is Joanne, my girlfriend." she said, without waiting for an answer._

"_Hi," Joanne said, looking slightly uncomfortable at being in my presence. Uh-oh. Did they know about last night?_

"_Do you mind if we join you?"_

"_No, of course not. Go ahead." I wanted any chance to find out more about this Roger guy, and who would know more about him than Mimi's best friend?_

"_So, are you still acting as Mimi's body guard?" Maureen asked jokingly as we waited for our food a few minutes later. Joanne smiled lovingly at her bluntness; almost as if she were just a precocious child._

"_Um… Yeah, I guess. I'm surprised Roger doesn't walk with her, though." There. I mentioned him casually, hopefully this would break a dam on Maureen and get her talking non-stop like everything else did._

_Maureen smiled slyly, as if she knew something I didn't. (Which she probably did.) "Well… I can' t tell you that… You might tell Mimi…"_

"_Maureen…" Joanne said in a warning tone that clearly told her to keep her mouth shut. I took another shot at the relationship._

"_So what's the deal with them anyway? I've never seen them together and Mimi hardly ever talks about him. What's going on?" _

_Jackpot. That got Maureen going 100 miles a minute talking non-stop. She went on and on and on about their relationship last year. How they met, their first date, and all of last year._

_It was terrible. First when they met Roger practically pushed her addiction further, by helping her light a candle so she could shoot-up. The next night she came over to talk to him and he kicked her out. Not just out of his apartment, but out of the entire building itself, despite the fact that she lived there too!_

_Then he took her to a dangerous protest where she could've gotten arrested or hurt or worse. Later that night he took her outside in the snow and freezing cold without a coat on. She could've gotten sick, didn't he think of that?_

_And then there was the year itself. Roger barely trusted her at all, always thinking she was cheating on him (which most likely meant he was cheating on her and was paranoid for the same treatment). He kept breaking up with her and then getting back together with her and finally decided to leave her because he didn't want to be bothered to deal with someone's problems other than his own._

_The worst was when he left her completely, state and all, just after her best friend died. How could someone be so heartless? He finally decided to come back, but not until after he had pushed Mimi to the point of homelessness and left her on the brink of death._

_Miraculously, she survived and unbelievably she got back together with him after all that! I can't believe it. He abandons her and she takes him back; then he ignores her completely and she still stays with him? It just doesn't make any sense. _**(A/N: Maureen, obviously, emphasized much more on the positives in the relationship, not the negatives. But Todd is so blinded by his prejudice that he only heard the negatives. I don't want you thinking Maureen's a terrible person.)**

"_Maureen, have you checked the time?" Joanne asked after Maureen had talked for over an hour._

"_Oh! We're going to be late!" Maureen shouted after glancing at the clock. "Joanne is taking me to see a Broadway musical for Valentine's Day and then we're getting dinner at Belle de Jour. I love French food."_

"_Why do you think I chose the place?" Joanne asked playfully. Maureen beamed at her._

"_Well, I don't love it as much as I love you," and she gave her a small kiss before turning to me, "Well, we had better get going. Also, I don't know when Roger and Mimi will be here."_

"_Oh, right. If Mimi sees us that might spoil things a bit," Joanne said thoughtfully, pulling her coat on._

"_Why? What's going on?" So Roger _was _doing something with her for Valentine's Day. But he was bringing her _here

"_Swear you won't tell Mimi?" Maureen asked, leaning in._

"_When will I be able to tell her?'_

"_Good point. Roger's proposing tonight."_

_I felt my insides disappear._

"_He's _what_?"_

"_I know! We could hardly believe it either. I've known Roger since Middle School and he never seemed like the type to settle down. Well… neither did , for that matter," she added, slipping her arm around Joanne's waist. And the two turned and walked out the door with their arms around each other. _

_I couldn't believe it. After everything he did to her, Roger was actually going to propose to her? There was no chance in Hell she would say "yes". Was there? I decided to stay to find out for myself._

* * *

_ I sat in the Life for a few more hours, waiting. It didn't seem like they were going to show for a while. It was past 8:30 and surely they would've eaten dinner by now, right?_

_Maybe Maureen was just messing with me. She said herself Roger was never the type to settle down. She must think I'm not good enough for her friend and told me that to get me to back off since she could see how close we were getting and didn't want it to go any further._

_I was just thinking I should get going so I could walk Mimi to work when I heard an all-too familiar voice. She was imitating, it seemed, the manager, but I could tell it was her. But I had to be sure, so I got up and walked in the direction of the voice, which was now stifling a laugh._

"_Mimi?" I asked approaching the table, although I already knew it must be her. She gave a small start and looked at me. Then she burst into a huge smile._

"_Todd! Hi, what are you doing here?"_

"_Well, I liked the food, so I thought I'd come back here to eat something before I left for work." Good thing I remembered my having a job ruse. "I can't cook, so it was a better idea than burning my apartment down."_

_Mimi laughed. She has such a beautiful laugh._

_It was then that I noticed the guy she was sitting across from. It was the guy from the picture. He looked just a bad as in the picture. But I could also tell that he was just as good-looking, if not more. There was no way Mimi would leave him for me, no matter how terrible he was._

"_Todd, this is my boyfriend, Roger," Mimi suddenly said, as if she had forgotten about her companion for a moment, "Roger, this is Todd, my friend who's been walking me home every night," _

_Roger doesn't like me either. I know he doesn't. He's practically glaring at me, though not completely. It somehow is more frightening than a glare. It seemed he realized what he was doing, though, since he suddenly put on a (very fake) smile and reached his hand out to shake mine._

"_Nice to meet you," he said, shaking my hand and it was then that I realized he knew about the night before. I was dead if I didn't get out of this situation, and now. So I pulled my hand back quickly and made up an excuse to leave._

"_Well, I'd better get going. I have to go to work," I walked to the other side of the restaurant, making sure they would lost me in the crowd. I wasn't going to leave, no chance. I had to see what he did. He might get angry and Mimi and I didn't want him to hurt her._

_They just talked throughout the rest of dinner before finally getting up and leaving. I was deciding to head home when I realized they were walking out the back exit, into the alleyway. _

_This could not be good. So I followed them. I silently slipped out the door and stood in the shadow of the doorway, watching them standing in the middle of the alley under a light fall of snow._

_Roger was talking to her, I couldn't make out everything he was saying exactly, but it was mostly him trying to convince her he loved her. Yeah, right. He doesn't love her, he just wants her for her body._

_It was amazing how the fake words he spoke were true for me, though. He kept saying how much he loved Mimi and how important she was to him and how much she meant to him and while I knew it was all a lie, I felt he was very adequate in describing my own feelings._

_Then he asked her to marry him and I waited with bated breath for her reaction. I was so sure she would say "no"; that she would tell him he wasn't good enough for her and she didn't want to marry him. I was wrong. She said "yes". I couldn't believe she said "yes"._

_I didn't hear what they said next, I became immediately numb to everything. The cold, the snow, the fact that two people were making out right in front of me._

_How could she want to marry him? It didn't make any sense. I pulled out of my state of shock long enough to notice that they were leaving. And I decided to follow._

_I walked behind them all the way back to their apartment, their arms around each other, each taking pauses to kiss the other. It made me sick to my stomach._

_They finally got to the apartment and didn't even go inside. Roger had Mimi pushed up against the door outside and was kissing her. Why couldn't he even think to go inside first? It's too cold out here. Now I was worried. He could really hurt her._

_I stood across the street watching until they went in and then turned to leave. But I didn't. I stood there, staring up at the top loft. Then, without even remembering making the decision, I sprinted to the fire escape and climbed up._

_I just _had_ to know what they were doing._

_I walked to the end of the fire escape where there was a small window looking into their bedroom. They were kissing and taking each other's clothes off. _

_So I was right. He doesn't love her, he just wants her for her body. Now I was sure I was physically ill, but I couldn't turn away. I just stood there, staring until finally after what could have been seconds or hours I turned around and made my way slowly back home, thinking. I had to find some way to save Mimi from him._

* * *

_Creepy? I hope so, that's what I was going for. The next chapter is shorter (at least, it's planned to be shorter), so I should have it up more quickly than this one was.  
_

Return 


	5. Stay Away

_Here's chapter five. It's much shorter than chapter four was, actually it's just short period. Sorry, but there wasn't really anything else to say in the chapter. But the next one will be longer and chapter four was ginormous_, _so it makes up for it. :)_

_  
Thank you so much to my replacement beta-reader, RENT-HSM-MAXRIDEluva4eva, whom I completely forgot to ask how she wanted me to credit her. :p Sorry, just PM with what you want. Your penname, real name, different name. And thank you SO MUCH this really makes this process go by more quickly. :)_

_And now, chapter five. Enjoy. :)  
_

* * *

Mimi woke up to the bright sun shining in her eyes. She still lay in the same position, with her head resting on Roger's chest and her hand with the ring on it resting on his shoulder. The ring sparkled even more in the sunlight making Mimi smile at what her future held. 

"Good morning," Roger said, making Mimi jump slightly. She hadn't noticed he was awake.

"Morning," Mimi replied, still slightly groggy.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, kissing her forehead and playing with her hair again.

"Yes, better than in a long time."

They lay there for a little while, just being together before Roger decided to move.

"Come on, let's get up. I'll make you breakfast. What do you want?" he asked, pulling on some clothes.

"Ooh, breakfast two days in a row? You spoil me so much," Mimi teased him, grabbing some clothes of her own to put on, "How about pancakes? You failed to include those yesterday."

"Damn, I knew I forgot something…"

"Don't sweat it, you got everything else," she smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him.

"I love you," Roger said.

"I love you too. Now go make me breakfast," she added jokingly.

Roger walked out of the room laughing, holding Mimi's hand.

"So, what are we doing today?" Mimi asked, watching Roger make the pancakes.

"Um…"

"Um, what?"

"Well, please don't be mad. But the guys wanted to take me out to celebrate the engagement. But the girls are planning the same with you, so you won't be home all alone. I'll skip it if you want me to, though."

Mimi sat there and thought about that. She hadn't hung out with the girls in what seemed like forever and she knew the same went for Roger and the guys. Plus if she was honest with herself, she _really_ wanted to show off her engagement.

"Ok, that sounds fine."

"Really?" Roger looked at her, surprised.

"Yes, really. You're allowed to have a life, Roger," Mimi said, rolling her eyes.

"You are my life."

"Awww, if you weren't pouring pancakes out right now, I'd kiss you."

Roger laughed and went back to the pancake making.

A little while later Mimi was enjoying Roger's pancakes (they had chocolate chips in them) when the phone rang.

"Let the machine get it," Mimi said automatically as Roger showed signs of getting up to answer it.

The machine went off.

_SPEEEEAAAAAAAAK_**(A/N: I try to be accurate and have OCD, so someone let me know if I have enough/ too many/ not enough of each letter here. I wasn't sure how many to put, so I just copied however many Stephanie had in her SPEAK Story, because she's awesome. :p)**

"Miiimiiiiiii," Maureen sang on the phone and Mimi rolled her eyes and Maureen's opening, "I know you're there. You must be. Come on, pick up the phone… Ok, _someone_ pick up the phone… Mimi I have to talk to you about tonight. Pleeeeease???"

Mimi shared a humorous look with Roger where they both tried to stifle their giggles, before answering the phone.

"Hey, Maureen."

"Finally! Why don't you people ever answer your phone?"

"We were kind of in the middle of breakfast."

"Oh. So, where do you want to go tonight? Everyone's so psyched. This is going to be such a celebration!"

"Celebration of what?" Mimi asked, deciding to play dumb and drive Maureen up the wall.

"Um… Of… Um…" Mimi smiled. She knew Maureen was now having a huge struggle of wondering what to say, worrying she had ruined something.

"Of us finally getting together after so long." she finally deliberated.

"It sounds great. I can tell everyone Roger and I are getting married."

"I'm going to kill you!' Maureen shrieked and Mimi broke down laughing, "That was so not funny!"

"Yes it was, and you know it was. So what are we doing?"

"I don't know. It's your party what do you want to do?"

"Jesus, Maureen, I don't care. Just give me the idea that you're going to suggest to me after going back and forth twenty times."

"Ok, there's this new club that opened up, we should all go."

"Ok, I'll be at your place around 7:00."

"All right, see you then!" And she hung up before Mimi even got a chance to say good-bye.

"So, what are you guys doing?" Roger asked as Mimi sat down.

"Going to some new club. You guys?"  
"Going to some bar. Collins says it's been months since he got me drunk and he missed it."

Mimi laughed and continued eating her pancakes.

* * *

Roger walked down the street, catching up on everything that had been going on with his three friends in the past two months. He knew the broad views already, but had never had enough time to get all the details.

Judging by the way he blushed and rambled on, Roger could tell that Mark had fallen completely head-over-heels in love with Jodie. Roger had suspected as much, but had never spoken long enough with either of them to confirm this. He was happy. The two definitely seemed perfect for each other during the short periods of time Roger saw them.

Benny and Alison were still taking couples therapy, but things were getting better. He made sure to take her out at least once a week and would do random things for her, like bring her home flowers or do the dishes for her. Things were getting so much better they were even talking sometimes of maybe having a baby. The thought of Benny, someone Roger had been friends with since elementary school, was a scary thought.

Collins was having fun teaching. He got his old job back at NYU and is actually liking one of his classes. The others he says are filled with single-minded stuck-up children who don't belong in college, but teaching is worth it just for that one class. They actually think and are constantly surprising him.

Roger hadn't realized how much he had missed out in the past few months.

They walked into the bar and sat down in a table near the back, Roger still catching up on everything that was going on. Benny left for a few minutes to go order some beers from the bar and Roger turned the conversation to Mark's job. He knew how much Mark hated working at Buzzline and wondered how he liked working for a real news station.

"It's great. I actually film stuff people want to see. No more chasing around Alec Baldwin trying to get proof that he's really a clone when the real one was murdered two years ago." he rolled his eyes continued, "Jodie's aunt is really great, too. She's really sweet, but able to be tough and assertive when she needs to be. It must run in the family, Jodie's the same way. Like last week we were in this restaurant…"

Yep, he was in love. _Majorly._ That was the fifth time he had managed to turn a question about himself around and start talking about Jodie.

"Ok, this guy at the bar is starting to freak me out," Benny said as he returned with their beers.

"Who?" Collins asked, looking around.

"That guy," Benny said, pointing over to a skinny, pale guy with blond hair sitting at the bar and talking animatedly to those around him.

"Why? What did he do?" Mark asked. The guy didn't _look_ freaky.

"That's Todd," Roger said in recognition.

"Who?" Benny asked.

"Todd, Mimi's friend."

"Oh, well then that explains how he knew. But, you might want to do something about that guy."

"Why?"

"He's got his eye on Mimi."

"So did you, but it didn't bother me. Besides, I've already met the guy, he's completely harmless. It's just some small crush, he'll get over her."  
"Well, when I went up there he was talking about his girlfriend. You remember that night you followed Mimi to the Cat Scratch Club and threw that guy over the table, so Kyle banned you?"

Roger grimaced, "How could I forget. I've lived in agony wondering what might happen to her when I'm not there. Why?"

"Todd told a very similar story to that about himself and _his_ girlfriend who worked at the Cat Scratch Club. I thought that it was a bit too coincidental, so I asked for his girlfriend's name…" He broke off, trying to decide, it seemed, whether he should tell Roger the rest.

"And?" Roger asked, although he was pretty sure he knew what was coming.

"He said her name was 'Mimi'."

Roger jumped up and made his way over to Todd before the others could stop him.

* * *

_Todd's POV_

_Sunday night I decided to drive across town to a bar. Not something I usually did. Drive or go to bars. I don't like beer and there was usually no need for my car, that would just make the time I had with Mimi shorter. But I had to do _something_ and I knew Mimi wouldn't be at work, so I wouldn't be missing anything. _

_The guys sitting at the bar started bragging about their girlfriends or wives. The women were all quite pathetic compared to Mimi. So I decided to tell the guys about _my_ girl. Sure, she wasn't exactly my girl yet. But I would find a way to get her. She would realize how terrible Roger was eventually._

_Suddenly I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I turned. It was Roger. Shit. What was I going to do?_

"_Hello, Todd," he said. His face looked calm, but there was hinted fury in every syllable._

"_H-hi, Roger. What are you doing here?" I honestly did wonder that. Shouldn't he be spending some time with Mimi? They were engaged after all._

"_I should ask you the same thing."_

"_What do you mean?" shit, he knows I was talking about Mimi and my relationship. This was _not_ good._

"_I mean, why are you talking about my girlfriend?" _**(A/N: I Should Tell You just came on my play list and it is not helping me write angry Roger **_**at all**_**. :p)**

_I froze. I had no idea what to do. Some reckless voice in the back of my head (probably a suicidal voice) told me to act tough, to fight back. And that seemed logical to me. I wasn't going to get Mimi if I didn't fight for her. So that's what I would do, fight for her._

"_Why? Do you have a problem with that?"_

_Yeah, actually, I do! She's my girlfriend. Mine, not yours. You need to get over this weird obsession with her before I make you!"_

"_Why? Are you afraid of the competition?'_

"_Competition?! Are you serious?"_

"_Yes, I am. You know how close Mimi and I are and you feel threatened by that. That's the only reason you asked her to marry you, isn't it? So you could own even more than you already did and make it so no other guy could go near her!" _

_It happened so quickly I wasn't entirely sure how. But suddenly Roger had me pinned to the bar table, holding my shirt, his face inches from mine._

"_Don't you _ever_ talk about Mimi like that again! And you had better stay away from her or I'll make it so you never have any girlfriend _ever_!" He threw me backward and I went flying across a table, shattering glasses and sending beer flying everywhere._

"_Roger, calm down!" some blond boy had run forward to stop Roger from practically massacring me. He was shortly joined by two black men who also tried to calm him down._

"_This guy's not worth it, just let it go." one of them said. I recognized the other as someone who had ordered four beers earlier. No guesses as to where Roger had found out about me from. _

_So he even had his buddies looking out for me. Man, this guy has really got it out for me._

_I got up off the floor, brushing myself off, trying to still look tough. I'm sure I failed. I shot one last glance at Roger and his entourage before walking out the door._

_Now I had another problem. I always knew Roger was a jackass, but I never knew he could actually get violent. I had to do something and something fast._

* * *

Roger was still breathing heavily as he watched the coward run out the door.

"You really shouldn't have done that, Roger. That was insane, you could've gotten arrested," Collins told him as they walked back to their table.

"Oh, yeah. You're one to talk about taking caution against arrests," Roger said, smiling slightly his anger slowly leaving. But not entirely. "I'm going to go for a walk."

"No, you're not," Collins said, "Sit."

"I'm not going to do anything, I just need to clear my head." And he was out the door before another word could be said.

Roger wondered around the streets for about an hour, thinking. He really shouldn't have let Todd's words anger him so much. But he hated anyone saying _anything_ about Mimi like that.

How could he even think that? How could anyone think that? Roger didn't see being with Mimi as owning her. If anything it was the other way around. He would do anything she asked him to. He loved her more than anything in the world.

Finally he decided that he shouldn't have overreacted. He promised himself he would stop that, but it happened anyway. Todd was just bitter and jealous. And Roger had heard way worse from Benny, his own friend, last year.

Roger supposed he had better go back to the bar and see if he could find Todd to apologize. He definitely shouldn't have reacted like that.

He could see the bar down the street and was trying to work out what exactly he would say. Just seeing him again would probably give Todd a heart attack, so maybe this wasn't the best idea.

Roger was half-way across the street before he remembered Todd had left before he had. He sighed and then turned around, deciding he would go home. He didn't want to face the others yet. Suddenly what he had done had seemed so childish.

He didn't even see the speeding car until after it hit him.

* * *

"He's been gone for over two hours," Mark commented, staring at the clock. 9:46. Yep. Roger had been gone for almost two and a half hours.

"Maybe we should go look for him. He might be stumbling around the streets drunk somewhere," Benny said, concerned. Roger should have come back by now.

"No, he barely had one sip of beer before he left."

"He could've gone to another bar. This is New York!"

"True. Ok, let's go."

They got up and walked out the door, still worrying about where Roger might have gone and what trouble he might have gotten into.

Suddenly they heard the roar of an engine and the screeching of tires. They looked down the street in time to see a silver car collide with someone. The person flew up over the hood of the car and fell back onto the pavement with a sickening _crack!_

The car screeched to a stop and then turned around, speeding off in the opposite direction. They hadn't even stopped to see if the person was ok or shown any indication that they even knew they had hit someone. It almost looked intentional.

Mark was still staring after the car when Collins' voice broke through his thoughts.

"What the fuck was that?! Why didn't they even stop?" he started walking toward the person, who now had a small group of people around him.

"Oh my God… is that Roger?" Benny suddenly asked, and they started walking faster.

People were screaming and freaking out all over the place. Someone shouted for someone else to call 911 and Benny pulled out his cell phone and immediately did so.

It was unmistakably Roger. His left arm and right leg were twisted at odd angles and he had blood seeping down his face, but it was definitely him. He was unconscious.

"Did anybody see what happened?" Collins asked, more urgently now that he actually knew the victim.

"That car just came out of nowhere and hit that guy! Then it sped off." someone unhelpfully said. Collins already knew that. He finally decided to give up on the questioning and stayed knelt beside Roger's body, wishing he could do something.

Thankfully no one had rushed forward to try and help him, but that was most likely do to the way his body looked, it was obvious moving him probably would've caused more damage than good.

Finally an ambulance showed up. The paramedics carefully lifted Roger's limp form onto a stretcher and placed him in the ambulance.

"Was anyone here with this man?" one of them asked, hoping to get some information on the guy.

Yeah, I am," Mark said, stepping forward. He got into the ambulance with the guy, shooting one last frantic look at Collins and Benny before the doors were shut.

Soon police officers were showing up to examine the scene. Collins and Benny stood around for another hour waiting to be cleared to leave.

They only walked a block, to a spot where it would be easier to hail a taxi.

"Someone should call Mimi," Collins said, breaking the silence in the cab.

Benny held his phone out to Collins and he shook his head. Benny sighed and pulled the phone open. This was not going to be a pleasant conversation.

* * *

_Don't hurt me! Dives behind a shield, And please keep in mind that this is a story that needs conflict. Everything will work out in the end, I promise_. 


	6. Healing

_I'm so so so so so sorry for the long time it took to update. Last week was totally hectic for me. I couldn't go straight home after school any day at all. Then over the weekend I had tons of homework and was sick all day Saturday, so that day was totally lost. And Monday was my dad's birthday. It's also shorter than I intended it to be. (but longer than the last one) I decided to move some stuff to the next chapter since it makes more sense there. I'll try to make that update much sooner than the last one was. I try to not have more than a week in between updates._

_ Thanks so much, once again, to my beta-reader, Steph._

_ Extra Disclaimer: I don't own Grindhouse, but I couldn't resist. :p I also don't own Twilight, I guess, but that's just a small thing most people probably won't even get. :p_

_Enjoy. _

* * *

Mimi sat at the table with her three friends slightly surprised at the fact that she had forgotten how unbelievably crazy they could get. She couldn't wait for them _all_ to get together. Then they would have some real fun. 

Currently, however, their conversation had taken a more serious turn as Joanne began talking about one of her latest cases. It seemed her client was suing her insurance company for not reimbursing her for the jewelry stolen from her.

"The girl knows it was stolen and everything. She woke up in the middle of the robbery," Joanne said, getting as passionate as always when trying to explain her client's point of view.

"Then why didn't she do something about it?" Jodie challenged. She loved to get into little arguments with Joanne. She was the most fun person to debate things with.

"What would you do if you woke up in the middle of the night to find three strange men robbing your home? She was trapped in her bed, because if she moved they would've known she was there and there was no way she could've taken them all on at once."

"True," Jodie said.

"Which is why I carry around a gun."

"What? You carry a gun?" Jodie asked, much more interested now, "Do you have a license?"

"Yeah, when I became a secret service agent they gave me a license," she responded sarcastically. As if Joanne would ever do anything against the law.

"Baby, I didn't know you were a…" Maureen broke off, staring around her at the amused faces, "Ok. I didn't say it. Stop looking at me, I didn't say it!"

"Did you know this?" Jodie asked, turning on Mimi now.

"Yes. Yeah. Do I approve? No. Do I know? Yes." Seeing as Joanne had always carried around a gun (this was New York after all) Mimi knew very well about the gun situation.

"I don't know what futuristic utopia you live in, Mimi, but in the world I live in, a girl needs a gun." Mimi rolled her eyes, she and Joanne had had this conversation many times before.

"You can't get around the fact that people who carry guns tend to get shot more often than people who don't."

"And you can't get around the fact that if I go down to the laundry room in my building at midnight enough times I might get raped."

"Then don't do your laundry at midnight," Jodie pointed out, laughing slightly.

"Fuck that! I'll do my laundry whenever the hell I want to do my laundry!"

"There are other things you can carry around besides a gun. Like pepper spray."

"Um, if a guy is trying to rape me, I don't want to give him a skin rash. I want to take that bastard down!"

"How about a knife at least?" Mimi carried a pocket knife around with herself, and she found it perfectly satisfactory.

"Yeah, you know what happens to people who carry knives? They get shot! Look, if I ever become some high-power famous lawyer I'll hire some Arnold Schwarzenegger-like body guard and he'll carry the guns, and when shit goes down I'll sit back and laugh. But until that day it's Wild West, bitch!" **(A/N: I know that's not exactly the same, but the way Kim talks seems waaay different from the way Joanne would talk, so I modified it. :p)**

Mimi laughed. Why did she ever think she could win? Joanne was one of the best debaters she knew. It was a good thing she was a lawyer, better to put that talent to good use.

"I got to go to the bathroom, guys. I'll be right back," Mimi said as she got up.

The other girls sat around talking until Joanne's cell phone went off.

"Joanne…" Maureen whined, "You promised. No work tonight. Tonight is about Mimi."

"I know," Joanne said, pulling the phone out to shut it off. She made a weird face as she looked at the caller id, "It's Benny."

"Answer it," Maureen said. Joanne gave her a look, "Well, it's obviously not work, so you should answer it." she flashed a smile at Joanne and she answered it.

"Hello…"

Jodie and Maureen sat there silently, trying to catch the gist of the conversation going on.

"No, she went to the bathroom. Do you want me to have her call you back?… What's wrong?…" her eyes got really huge and Jodie and Maureen exchanged a look. "Oh my God. Is he ok?… Ok. We'll be over there as soon as we can."

She hung the phone up and set it back in her purse.

"Oh my God," she said again, putting her head in her hands.

"What happened?" Jodie asked.

"Roger was hit by a car," Joanne said.

"Oh my God!" Maureen practically screeched, making some heads turn. "Is he ok?"

"They don't know. They called an ambulance to pick him up, we have to get down there."

Mimi walked up at that moment, took one look at everyone's faces, and froze.

"What's wrong?" she asked cautiously.

"Um… honey, we have to go," Joanne said, pulling some money out to pay the barman.

"Why? What happened?"

"We'll explain on the way," Maureen said, grabbing Mimi's arm gently and leading her outside to hail a cab.

"Where are we going?" Mimi asked as they got into the car. She was beginning to get seriously worried.

"The hospital," Joanne said, getting into the front seat.

Mimi wasn't sure she wanted to know the rest.

* * *

Mimi bolted into the ER as fast as her legs would carry her. She almost collided with Mark who was standing in the waiting room. Collins and Benny were sitting down nearby, looking worried.

"What happened? Where is he? Is he ok?" Mimi was rambling at a record thousand words a minute. It took Mark a while to calm her down long enough for him to answer some of them.

"I don't know," he said when Mimi finally calmed down, "They took him into surgery right now…"

"Surgery?! Why the hell does he need surgery? That never ends well!" she now had tears streaming down her face faster than before.

"They said he needed surgery to fix some of his bones and they had to check for a concussion and internal bleeding. That car hit him pretty hard…" Mark broke off, he didn't want to voice his fear to Mimi that Roger might not make it out of here alive.

Mimi started crying and went to sit down in one of the chairs in the corner. The girls were all crowded around her trying to comfort her, but failing miserably.

Mimi hated crying and she rarely ever cried. Crying was just a show of weakness and it never did anything positive. It didn't fix the problem; it didn't make her feel better; it didn't make the doctors operate faster. All it did was make her face wet, her eyes hurt, and make her look weak. She hated it. But that didn't mean she could stop.

After over two hours a doctor finally came out to talk to them.

"Is there anyone here for 'Roger Davis'?" he asked, looking down at the chart he was holding. Mimi stood up and waked over to him.

"Yeah, I am. I'm Mimi Marquez, his fiancé," she said walking over to him.

"Hello, Miss Marquez, I'm Dr. Cullen. **(A/N: Yes, **_**that**_** Dr. Cullen. :p) **I was the head surgeon in Mr. Davis's surgery."

Mimi nodded once to show she understood. She didn't trust herself enough to speak without breaking down again.

"Mr. Davis has suffered a complete fracture to his right tibia and fibula and a complete fracture to his left radius and ulna. He has also suffered a mild traumatic brain injury which has caused him to lose consciousness."

Mimi stared at the doctor not understanding a word he had said. Something about Roger breaking something and hurting his brain, it seemed. The doctor smiled softly at her and re-explained things.

"That means he has completely broken his right leg and his left arm and has a mild concussion."

"Oh," Mimi said, understanding now. It sounded serious.

"It's not as bad as it seems," the doctor, said, seeming to sense Mimi's increase in apprehension, "Mr. Davis is lucky, it could've been much worse. He had to undergo surgery to re-align the bones in his arm and leg, but because they were a complete fracture they will heal much more quickly. He also has a mild concussion that, for the time being, has rendered him unconscious, but we expect he'll regain consciousness in a few days, a week at most. He's very lucky."

"Ok," Mimi said again, feeling slightly more hopeful, "Can I go see him?"

"Sure," the doctor said and he lead Mimi down a white hallway into a white room. Mimi hated hospitals. Everything was white. It was worse than rehab (everything was white there too) because she knew that some people never made it out of here. She vaguely wondered if this was how Roger had felt when he had walked down a similar hallway to see her last Christmas Eve.

The doctor stopped at a door half-way down the hallway and held it open for Mimi. Then he smiled slightly at her before walking out and closing the door.

Mimi stared at the figure lying on the bed. It was definitely Roger, no doubt about that, but he scared her. He looked so weak and frail. Not at all like the Roger she knew. He was completely covered in plaster and bandages and the little of him that wasn't was covered in bruises, scrapes, and cuts.

Mimi could hardly believe it was the same person.

She walked around the side of his bed to hold the hand that wasn't in a cast.

She just sat there for a while, staring at him, trying her hardest to fight back the tears she knew would eventually come.

Finally, more to distract herself then anything, Mimi started to talk to him. She had read somewhere that talking to people in a comatose state would bring them out of it faster. Dr. Cullen had said he would come out of this, but how could Mimi be sure?

"I can't believe this. Weren't you always the one telling _me_ to be careful walking on the streets at night? How could you not have seen that car?" her voice broke and she tried to think of something else to say, but no other topic came to mind.

"Can you just do one thing for me?" she asked him, knowing he wouldn't (or, rather, couldn't) answer, "Please, just… Don't die… Because we have a wedding to plan." she smiled slightly at the last part, trying her hardest to not cry.

In the end she gave in and cried until she felt she didn't have anymore tears in her. Then she laid her head down on the side of the bed and fell asleep, still holding Roger's hand.

* * *

Mimi didn't go to work at all that week. She barely ate and slept, and when she did it was always at the hospital right by Roger's side. She lived off of the vending machine and food Joanne or Jodie would bring her.

She only left when Collins or Mark made her come home to take a shower and eat some real food. But she made her showers extra quick and was hardly ever hungry, so within an hour or two at the most she would be back at the hospital, staring morosely at Roger.

The others visited as often as they could. The girls would always try to cheer Mimi up and get her to leave every once in a while, but she always ignored them. The guys would always re-enforce them by saying that they would stay with him, but Mimi didn't care. She really didn't want to leave.

Tricia stopped by to visit once. She left a Get Well card and balloons, although Mimi wondered what the point of them was, since Roger wasn't conscious to read them.

Dr. Cullen, as well as every nurse who went into the room, assured Mimi that Roger's condition was getting better and that he would eventually wake up, but Mimi was still fearing the worst.

One week after the accident he still hadn't woken up. Mimi was beginning to doubt whether he would _ever _wake up. From where she was standing, it didn't look good.

She finally fell asleep at around one am holding Roger's hand, her head resting on his mattress. Just like everyday that week.

* * *

The first thing Roger was aware of was the pain. There was pain everywhere. His head hurt, his leg hurt, his arm hurt. Everything hurt. The second was of an annoying beeping sound coming from somewhere. He couldn't force his eyelids to open, so he had no idea where it was coming from.

He decided he had better try to get up, but when he tried to move that just hurt even more.

What the hell had happened? The last thing Roger remembered was crossing the street towards the bar… And then these bright lights. And pain… A lot more pain… Even more than he was in now… Then there had been screaming… And then he woke up here… Well, not totally woke up. He still couldn't seem to get his eyes open.

Roger vaguely wondered how long he had been asleep. Beneath all the pain he felt very stiff, so it must have been for a very long time. A sudden thought jolted him. Mimi! Where was she?

He tried to open his eyes, this time succeeding and squinted in the bright light. It wasn't really _that_ bright, most of the lights had been turned off (evidently it was night), but after darkness for God knows how long any amount of light seemed bright. And everything was white, which made the light twenty times brighter. **(A/N: In case you have failed to notice, I despise the whiteness of hospitals. :p)**

After his eyes had adjusted Roger looked around him. He was in a small room. There were a few pieces of furniture; just his bed, a bedside table, and some chairs. He immediately recognized being in a hospital and was already ready to leave. He hated hospitals.

He was very uncomfortable. The bed was hard, he had an IV stuck in his arm (he didn't have to look to feel it there) and he had one of those tube-thingies stuck in his nose to help him breath **(A/N: I don't' care if those things are supposed to "help you" they are some of the most uncomfortable things ever created.)** On top of that his left arm and right leg were covered in plaster and he felt like he had bandages on pretty much every other part of him.

After a few seconds Roger became aware of a slight pressure on his right hand. He looked down (wincing slightly) and saw a mass of dark hair spilling across the side of his bed. He smiled slightly as he recognized Mimi's form, her head resting on his bed, apparently asleep. She held his hand loosely in her own.

Roger watched her for a while until she moved. She stirred slightly and then sat up, rubbing at her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot and it was obvious that she had been crying. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were wrinkled. She looked like she hadn't really slept properly in a while.

She looked past Roger to the bedside table, where a clock read "2:26 am". Then she did a double-take to where Roger lay, eyes open, staring at her.

"Roger!" she shrieked, throwing herself forward onto him in a hug.

"Ow!" he immediately responded as he took all her weight.

"Sorry," she said, snapping back away from him.

"It's ok, just don't attack me," Roger said, jokingly. He held his good arm out to her and she hugged him more gently.

Mimi sat back down in her chair, grabbing Roger's hand again and the two just stared at each other for a while. Finally Roger spoke.

"How long have I been out?"

"About a week."

"Wow… What happened?"  
"You don't remember?"

"Not well." Roger did remember freaking out on Todd and then heading back to the bar to apologize, but he wasn't going to tell Mimi about that just yet.

"Oh. Well, I was hoping you could tell me. All we know is you were hit by a car that sped away after it hit you."

"Yeah, I remember that… barely, though. I didn't even see it coming, or hear it. It was like the car had just started when I was crossing the street…"

They were silent after that, both thinking.

"So, did the doc say when I'm allowed to leave yet?" Roger finally asked, breaking the silence.

"I don't know. You just woke up. Give him a chance to examine you first." Mimi laughed at how eager Roger was to get out of here.

"All right, if I have to…" Mimi laughed again.

"Mimi, why are you here?" Roger asked as the thought struck him.

"What do you mean?"

"It's almost 3:00 am, why are you still here? Shouldn't you be at home, sleeping?"

"I couldn't sleep at home."

"Right, because the hospital chairs here are so much more comfortable…" Roger rolled his eyes.

"You would know. You slept here everyday I was in the hospital last Christmas."

"That's different."

"How?"

"I wasn't sleeping anyway. So why should I spend time away from you for the insane reason of laying in bed worrying about you anyway. I might as well have done it while I was actually here."

"And you don't think _I_ felt this way because…?"

Roger couldn't think of a response to that, so he decided it would be best to agree.

"True. But since I'm awake now, why don't you lay down with me so you're at least a little more comfortable."

"Yeah, right. I won't fit." Mimi laughed.

"Yes, you will. The bed's not _that_ small."

Mimi giggled, but finally decided Roger was either going to convince her to join him on the bed or go home. And she was _not_ going home; not now that he had finally woken up.

Mimi struggled tog et up onto the bed and finally managed to lay next to (or practically on top of) Roger on the bed without hurting his leg. Roger wrapped his good arm around her, being careful to avoid strangling her with the thousand wires sticking out of him, and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"I'm glad you woke up," Mimi whispered after another long silence, "I was worried you would never wake up."

She shivered slightly. The thought still scared her and she was still afraid that Roger might slip back into his comatose state and this time never wake up again.

"And miss our wedding? Yeah, right. Like I would do that."

Mimi smiled and slowly drifted off into the first real sleep she had had in a week. Roger watched her for a little while before falling asleep himself, holding her tightly against him. They were still like that when the day nurse came in to check on him five hours later.

* * *

_Did you guys think I would kill Roger? How absurd, I would be so upset with myself. :p_


	7. A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

_I was on one heck of a writing frenzy yesterday and I finished this chapter. Once again, thanx so much to Steph (Who also came up with the chapter title, seeing as mine sucked. :p) _

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

Dr. Cullen said Roger would had to stay in the hospital for another week before he could go home. Mark was back to spending all his time at Jodie's and Collins was always away. When he wasn't teaching or doing things for his job he would be traveling or trying something else new. Angel's death had really put things in perspective for him and he realized now was the best time to start attempting to cross off as many things off his list of things he wanted to try before he died. **(A/N: I know that seems random, but I completely forgot to put that in the first chapter and I need to put it in so people aren't thinking Collins is off drinking at a bar non-stop or something.)**

So Mimi was looking at another week staying home all alone when she wasn't at work. Great.

Mimi left the club feeling slightly depressed. Visiting hours ended after 10:00 and it was now after midnight. She couldn't even see Roger one last time before she went home. So she trudged home in the freezing cold, heading toward her empty loft.

"Mimi!" a surprised voice called behind her. Mimi stopped and turned around to see Todd running toward her. "Where have you been? You haven't been to work in a week! I tried visiting you at home to see what was up, but you were never there. I was getting worried."

Mimi never told Todd! She felt terrible. She had been so worried about Roger that she had never been home long enough to notice Todd and she had completely forgotten to tell him she wouldn't be going to work.

"Oh, Todd. I'm so sorry. I've been at the hospital all week."

"The hospital?! Why?! What's wrong?"

"Roger was hit by a car on Sunday. He just woke up last night. I was just too anxious to go to work. I didn't want to leave him. I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you."

"Oh," was all he said. He got a peculiar look on his face. Mimi ignored it and turned to walk home with him.

Things pretty much fell back to the way they were before the accident. The two walked together, talking and joking like normal. But Mimi talked a lot more about Roger now. It seemed to upset Todd a little, but she just couldn't stop. She always tried to keep the subject away from him, but everything made her think of him.

She did refrain, however, from mentioning her engagement. Todd must have notice her ring, however, because he seemed a bit more put-off by her than usual. Hopefully this would pass. Mimi didn't want to lose Todd as a friend over something as stupid as she was engaged.

* * *

Roger was slowly getting better and Mimi visited him in the hospital every chance she got. Mostly he would just complain about how much he hated being cooped up in one place for so long. 

"If I have to be stuck in one place for hours and hours I would at least like it to be a place where my favorite person can visit me whenever," he had said, holding Mimi as close as his bandages would allow.

But he was getting better, which made Mimi happier. It still didn't stop the loneliness, though. The walks with Todd helped that slightly.

On Thursday Mimi was so absorbed in a story she was telling about the time Angel had convinced Mimi, Maureen, and Joanne to go mini-golfing with them that she walked right past her apartment.

"Uh… Mimi?" Todd said cautiously, "Not meaning to interrupt, but wasn't that your apartment?" he pointed back at the building they had passed.

"Oh, yeah," Mimi said. She thought for a moment. Roger wouldn't mind, he knew she wouldn't do anything. And she _hated_ being up there all alone, "Do you want to come inside so I can finish my story? I'll make us some hot cocoa, my mom had this amazing recipe for it."

"Sure," Todd said, a huge smile lighting up his face.

They went up the stairs and Mimi continued her story.

"So Maureen was up and Joanne said encouragingly 'Come on, Maureen. Get a hole-in-one.' And then Maureen just sort of tapped the ball and rolled straight down the hill and into the hole."

"Wow, I wish I could do that," Todd said, laughing appreciatively.

"Yeah, but I missed it. Because I was already running down the steps to get my ball and wasn't watching. So Maureen said they would re-create it as best they could. Joanne said 'Come on, Maureen. Get a hole-in-one.' And then she did. _Again_. It was amazing."**(A/N: This actually happened with me once when my dad took me mini-golfing when I was, like, six. :p My dad still tells the story to his golfer buddies sometimes. I'm famous. :p)**

"Wow. I couldn't have even done it _once_, and she did it _twice_?" Todd asked, laughing.

"Yep," Mimi said, now unlocking the door to their actual loft. She opened the door and walked over to the sliding one, pulling it open. "And this is my lovely home," she announced with a grand sweep of her arm.

"Wow…" Todd said.

"I know, it's a mess."

"That's… A bit of an understatement…"

Mimi laughed. It was. Clothes were throwN everywhere. Not to mention all the scrap paper left lying around from when Roger tried to write a song or Mark tried to write a script. And then there were just the boxes upon boxes of random junk they had lying around. Mimi was sure something lived in the piles, but she was too afraid to check.

"Yeah, well that's what happens when four guys live together. And Roger lived here with three of his best friends before I came along. AND when you add Maureen, who was dating Mark at the time, it gets even worse. And then I moved in and I'm no neat-freak."

"I'm a guy and my apartment is spotless," Todd remarked, contradicting Mimi's "four guys" comment, "I _am _a bit of a neat-freak." he added, smiling.

Mimi laughed and walked over to the kitchen area to make the cocoa. Todd followed her and sat down at the metal table, watching her.

"It looks like you and your friends have a lot of fun together," he said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah. Angel _always_ knew how to have fun. Oh! And I didn't tell you the best part. Angel and Joanne were paying for another game so we could run the other course and Maureen and I were reading the messages people had written on the wall of the rental place. And Maureen pulled her pencil out and wrote Joanne's cell number on the wall. Then about a week later we were all out eating when Joanne's cell went off. We had, of course, completely forgotten about writing her number on the wall, so we were surprised when she hung up and glared at us.

"Apparently someone had seen her name and called the number! The person didn't even speak English very well! It was some Japanese person speaking fragmented English! Maureen and I tried so hard to deny doing anything, but our laughing gave us away." **(A/N: This happened with me and some friends. It was HILARIOUS. But in my defense he knew I put his number on the wall, seeing as I had asked for it before writing it up there. :p)**

Todd laughed and Mimi returned to making the cocoa. Eventually Mimi started telling stories again, most of them involving Angel. Todd seemed to like the stories with Angel in them, but how could you not? Angel was a very lovable person, whether you met her or not.

Mimi set the cups of cocoa on the table for herself and Todd and sat down across from him, re-telling last New Year's when Angel had come dressed as Pussy Galore.

"She made this awesome dress out of a shower curtain and had on a blond wig and everything."

"Who was James Bond?" Todd asked jokingly.

"Collins, of course," Mimi responded matter-of-factly. Todd gave her a confused look, "You don't have to be white to be James Bond," she clarified.

"I guess not…" Todd said, still seeming slightly confused. Mimi had the feeling Todd lived a fairly sheltered life before coming to New York and wasn't used to anything against the norm.

"You should have seen them, they were adorable," Mimi said fondly.

"I wish I could have," Todd replied wistfully.

"I could show you the pictures!" Mimi exclaimed, jumping up suddenly. She ran into her room and pulled the scrapbook out of the closet that she and Angel had been working on about that past year. They always made a scrapbook, one for each year. That year, however, they had started their scrapbook on Christmas to include their very first memories with their new friends. Mimi had finished it herself during her bed-ridden days after Christmas.

Mimi set the scrapbook down on the table and flipped it open a few pages to their New Year's bash.

She smiled reminiscently as she stared at herself and her friends celebrating. Mostly the pictures were all stills taken from Mark's camera, but a few were from some of their other friends who had taken photographic cameras to the event and given Mimi and Angel the doubles.

"There they are!" Mimi exclaimed, finding a cute picture of Angel and Collins standing together. Collins was doing his best to look sexy (and succeeding fantastically **(A/N: Honestly, how couldn't he:p)**) and Angel stood next to him, striking a secret agent pose and holding her fingers together like a gun. Mimi laughed.

"Um… She looks… nice…" Todd said. Mimi wondered if she had ever explained that Angel as a drag queen.

"You know, Todd, Angel was a guy," Mimi said delicately, trying to explain things without him having an aneurysm like he usually looked close to when she explained how things were done in New York.

"What? Then why is he wearing a dress?" Todd asked. Confused wasn't a strong enough word to describe him.

"He was a cross-dresser. Angel liked being a girl more than a guy. She was basically a girl in a guy's body, so she dressed like a girl. She made the most amazing outfit. She would make me dresses and outfits and make them for herself. You know that black skirt with the color trim that I wore yesterday?"

Todd nodded.

"She made that. Well, sort of. We were thrift shopping and Angel found that skirt and it fit me perfectly but it was ripped on horridly boring. So Angel bought it for me and said she would fix it up. And she got the last little bits of fabric at the bottom of her sewing basket and sewed them on. And ta-dah! My skirt was born!"

Todd laughed at Mimi's enthusiasm and Mimi was grateful. The awkward air was cleared away and things were less uncomfortable.

Todd moved so he was sitting next to Mimi and could see the pictures better. He looked over Mimi's shoulder, studying each picture carefully with an oddly concentrated look on his face.

Mimi would smile and laugh and every once in a while she would explain a story or two behind the pictures. She avoided any and all stories about herself and Roger and would try to quickly flip past pictures of the two of them in any romantic situation so she wouldn't make Todd uncomfortable.

Throughout the night she told him the stories of Maureen's protest, their New Year's, Maureen and Joanne's disastrous engagement ceremony, and various moments she had with Angel. Mostly the night was all about Angel. Mimi had fun reminiscing and retelling the stories to someone who hadn't been there.

She made it to the pages that were dedicated in memoriam to Angel. The ones of her in the hospital. Mimi paused, staring at the pages.

"Maybe we should skip those…" Todd said, reaching his hand over to turn the page. Mimi grabbed hi hand to stop him.

"No, I want to look. I haven't looked at these since I fist put them in." she released Todd's hand and he sat there staring at her as she flipped through the pages, looking at her fallen friend. It was definitely not the way Angel would have wanted to have been remembered. Weak and defeated, lying in a hospital bed wasting away. Mimi didn't even know why she had put the pictures in there at all.

Mimi slammed the book shut with a _snap!_ and then went into her room to put it away. She caught sight of the clock on her bedside table and gave a start. It was after 3:00 am!

"Oh my God. Todd, I didn't realize the time. It's after three!" she said, walking back out into the living area.

"Oh," he said, look crestfallen, "I should probably get going, then. I'll see you tomorrow, Mimi. Good night."

"Good night."

Mimi stood there for a few minutes, thinking. Then she slowly got ready for bed and lay down. She hated those stupid pictures. Tomorrow she should get rid of them. But, whether she liked it or not, they were a part of Angel's life. The end, but still a part. They belonged in the book. Years from now Mimi didn't want people to look at their scrapbooks and wonder why Angel just disappeared after that year's. So they would stay. Slowly, Mimi drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Todd's POV_

_Mimi seemed upset as she left to put her scrapbook away. I got up to follow her and she if everything was all right when I noticed something lying on the table next to the couch. _

_It was a small, black pouch. Out of curiosity I picked it up to see what was in it. I dumped it upside down and a small, silver key fell into my hand. It was a key to the loft. _

_So Mimi had an extra key that she didn't use. Don't friends exchange keys to each other's houses? That seemed like a good idea. Then I wouldn't have to stand around outside, waiting for her everyday. I could just come up and wait for her in the loft. I stuck the key in my pocket making a mental note to make an extra copy of my own key for Mimi tomorrow._

"_Oh my God. Todd, I didn't realize the time. It's after three!" Mimi suddenly said, walking back out into the living area._

"_Oh," I said. Main Time flew by pretty quickly. It always does when I'm with Mimi. "I should probably get going, then. I'll see you tomorrow, Mimi. Good night."_

"_Good night."_

_I walked down the stairs, thinking. Mimi was unhappy. That much was obvious. The way she quickly skipped over any pictures of her and Roger. The way she always avoided the subject of him when we talked. _

_I was very confused, though. Roger obviously made her unhappy. She wouldn't leave him, "couldn't" was the word she had used, so she was obviously afraid of him. _

_So I tried to help, but somehow he had lived. I guess I didn't hit him hard enough. But he was unconscious for a week! Why didn't she just leave then? He couldn't hurt her, he was in the hospital!_

_But, maybe she felt bad for him. Of course! That's how Mimi is. She didn't want to leave him while he lay on his inevitable death bed. But he was going to be ok. He was going to get better and gain his control over her back. I would have to think of something else to help her._

_I also had something else to think about. I had never realized how much there was to Mimi. She lived a whole other life before she met me. A whole life I knew nothing about. All documented in her little scrapbooks. The biggest part of that life was obviously Angel. Angel was always the one who looked out for her and now that she…he…it was gone Mimi had no one. I knew now that I had to help her. Because if I didn't, no one would._

_My picture collection would be nice with some pictures of Mimi from her old life. I stopped walking half-way down the street and thought. Then I turned around and walked back to Mimi's apartment. I used my key and unlocked the outside door. Then I carefully climbed the stairs and let myself back into the dark loft, sliding the door as slowly as possible to dull the noise._

_I knew which room was Mimi's after watching her go in there earlier. So I walked over to it and quietly pulled the door open. My breath caught in my throat as my eyes fell on Mimi. She was lying on her back, fast asleep. Her arms were folded on top of the covers, revealing that she slept in a spaghetti strap tank top. That wasn't very smart. It was freezing in here, she could catch a cold._

_I tore my eyes away from her and walked over to her closet. That seemed like a good place to look. I found the scrapbook (among many others I would look through later) and pulled it down to look through._

_I took out a few of the pictures of Mimi with Angel and some of her with her other friends. She was always so beautiful. Although there was a tiredness to her in these pictures that she didn't carry with her in real life. She had dark circles under eyes sometimes and there was a slightly dead look to her. Even with Angel alive she was still slightly unhappy._

_I stopped at a picture of Mimi sitting on the edge of a fountain in Central Park, Roger was sitting next to her, his arms wrapped possessively around her. I glared at him for a moment before letting my eyes slide back over to Mimi. She looked fairly happy in this picture. And she was so beautiful, of course. I took the picture out and shoved it into my bag as well. _

_After nearly and hour of searching through her photos (I even managed to get through a few of her other scrapbooks.) I was satisfied with my pictures. I had a good supply of pictures of Mimi now, both from her old life and new life. It was perfect. I put the books back and then turned to leave, freezing again._

_Mimi still lay there, still as stone, smiling slightly. I walked over to the edge of her bed and peered down at her. She and her friend had been wrongly named _Mimi_ was more the angel._

_I slowly bent over her sleeping form and lightly brushed my lips against her. I pulled away smiling and turned to leave the room. I may not have her now, but I know one day I will. It's what's meant to be._

* * *

_ Am I laying the creepy on now? I really hope so. That's one of my bizarre-o fears: someone sneaking into my room and kissing my while I'm asleep. :p I got it from a Medium episode._


	8. Leave me Alone

_I once again must grovel and beg for forgiveness. My week was, once again, INSANE. I had stuff going on non-stop after school what-with Halloween and all. I would say "it'll be better now", but it might get worse, since the Thanksgiving-Christmas season is coming up and that's when Key Club really gets going. :p But, hopefully,. I'll be done with this story by the time it all actually starts. I also managed to get grounded on Friday and so i could not write that day._ _Oh well, better late than never, right? _

_Once again, thanks so so much to my beta-reader, Steph. Especially now that my spell check has decided to be unbelievably weird and claims words I mis-type that aren't words are words. (Side-note, does anyone know how to fix that? It's really bugging me. Thanks in advance. :)) _

_And now, finally, chapter eight. Enjoy. :)  
_

* * *

Roger finally came home and Mimi was ecstatic. He had needed the help of Mark, Collins, Benny, and Emil, Jodie's step-father, to get up to the loft without falling. 

Mimi had roughly cleaned up the loft as best she could. Which mostly meant she had shoved everything to the outer walls of the loft so Roger could get around more easily. It was very hard for Roger to move due to the fact that one of his arms was broken as well as his leg, so he couldn't use both crutches.

Mostly he would just have to sit on the couch and let Mimi run around doing everything for him. This arrangement was perfectly fine with Mimi, but made Roger feel like a helpless child. He was further irked by the fact that he had a "bedtime" of 8:30 so he could go to sleep before Mimi came home after midnight from work.

Roger, for the time being, had been granted time off work (his boss agreed to take him back rather than lay him off completely due to how many hours he had already put in before the accident.) So during the day it was mostly just himself and Mimi.

This also gave him much more time to write songs. After one week of confinement he had already written three and a half songs that he was considering presenting to his band (He had written countless others, but they were all put into his stack of songs he would perform just for Mimi, which Mimi joked would soon be needing it's own filing cabinet for.)

The down side was he had yet to actually compose any music for said songs. He couldn't play his guitar one-handed. This also posed a problem with his band. They had, for the moment, found a temporary replacement for Roger during the time he'll be out, but every member assured him he didn't have to worry about a permanent replacement happening.

"We can't stand the guy," the lead singer, Steve, had said, "He can't play nearly half was well as you and nobody gets along with him. We'll be glad to be rid of him."

So all Roger really had to worry about was sitting at home and making his bones heal faster, which didn't seem to be going well.

"Mimi," Roger said in a mock-whine after two weeks of confinement.

"Yes, darling?" Mimi asked from the kitchen area, equaling his mocking tone. Roger couldn't help but smile at that.

"My bones won't heal any faster."

"What would you like me to do about that?" she asked pleasantly, sitting next to him on the couch and moving closer so he could wrap his good arm around her.

"Make them," he said simply.

"Ok, I'll wave my magic wand and fix them instantly. But remember as soon as I do that you have to go back to work."

"And this would involve me being somewhere you're not for some period of time, correct?'  
"Yes."

"Never mind."

Mimi smiled. They had had many conversations like this one before. They always ended the same way. Mostly due to the absurdity of making Roger's bones heal more quickly.

"Well, baby, you only have to endure four more weeks and then you're free to leave the loft whenever you wish," Mimi assured him, leaning her head against his chest and closing her eyes.

"Would you still be in the loft?" Roger asked, innocently.

"I don't know. I might be, why?" she asked looking up at him.

"Because I can think of something better we could do once I get these casts off…"

"Ooh, I like your idea much better."

* * *

Mimi continued to walk to and from work with Todd everyday. He was quickly becoming one of her best friends. He was so easy to talk to and would always listen very attentively to everything she said. It was as if he wanted nothing more than to listen to her ramble on for hours and hours. It wasn't even close to how Roger was around her, but still nice all the same.

Sometimes Mark and Jodie would stay at the loft and the others would come over to keep Roger company while Mimi was gone and on these nights she would invite Todd up to join them, but he always declined. Mimi thought he always seemed to be a little nervous when he declined and he would quickly say good-bye and head down the street for his home.

Mimi woke up early one morning. Rolling over, she looked at the clock on the bedside table and saw it read 8:27 AM. Carefully, so as not to disturb Roger, she got up and grabbed some clean clothes for a shower.

She walked out of the bathroom, toweling her hair off, to find Mark sitting alone at the metal table, eating a bowl of cereal, with a peculiar look on his face as if he were thinking really hard about something.

"Morning, Mark. This is a nice surprise," Mimi noted, grabbing herself a bowl.

"What?" he asked, pulling out of his quiet reverie. Mimi laughed.

"Usually you're at Jodie's. Or else she's here, where is she?"

"Oh, she had some family thing today. So I'm all alone," he sigh pitifully. Then he shot a smile at Mimi to show he was joking.

"Wow, you two are so inseparable. I can't even remember the last time I saw just you."

"Yeah, she's amazing. I wanted to go with her today, they're visiting her grandmother in Canada, but I had to work and it was too short of a notice to get the day off."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mimi said, "I'm sure she'll take you next time."

"Yeah, she's going to talk to her grandmother about a date when the two of us can go up there together to see her. So that we can be sure both of us can go."

"That sounds great," Mimi said, smiling. It was great to see Mark so happy.

They ate in silence and Mark got that same look on his face.

"Hey, Mimi. Can I ask you something?" Mark asked, breaking the silence.

"Sure," Mimi said, sensing danger on the horizon.

"I was up late last night, but I was home. Jodie and her family had to leave early in the morning so I was walking home a little after midnight and I saw something that kind of worried me."

Oh no. He had seen Mimi walking home with Todd and thought Mimi was cheating on Roger. How could he think she would do that to him?

"Mark," Mimi began, putting her spoon down, "It's not what you think. Todd is just a friend and…"

"I don't think you should be around him," Mark interrupted her quickly, making Mimi stop dead.

"What?" Mimi was shocked. Mark hardly ever spoke up about anything and now he was telling her to stay away from one of her friends? Jodie was definitely rubbing off on him.

"I don't think you should be around that guy. He's… Well… He's just kind of… creepy."

"Creepy?!" Mimi asked shocked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Have you ever even met him?"

"Well… no… but…" Mark was getting flustered now and was having a hard time stringing a sentence together.

"Then what makes you think you can judge him? God, I thought you guys would be better than Keisha and Mariah, but you're just the same! You judge him before you even know him and then you think he's too creepy to be my friend. Well, that's not fair, Mark, and I won't let you act like that about him."

"All right, Mimi, I'm sorry. It's just…"

"It's just what?"

"I don't like him, ok?"  
"How could you not like him? You barely know him?"

"He got into a fight with Roger, ok? The night Roger was hit by that car he was at the bar we went to. And he was going on and on about you, saying you were his girlfriend. Telling stories about the two of you that never happened. Things that happened between you and Roger, only he replaced Roger with himself! That's creepy, ok? He's obsessed with you and it's creepy!"

"Mark, you're paranoid," Mimi said. Although she was slightly shocked about his answer.

"Paranoid? Mimi Benny heard him; he was going on about his girlfriend who worked at the Cat Scratch Club. He said her name was Mimi and he told a story about when he went to the club to watch her and make sure she was all right and ended up throwing a guy into a table, breaking it, and got banned from the club. And when Benny asked for her name he said it was 'Mimi'."

Mimi thought that one out. It must be a coincidence, how could Todd have known that. Mimi thought. Had she told him that story? She couldn't remember.

"I'm sure he wasn't being serious. Maybe Benny misunderstood him. Is he sure Todd said 'girlfriend' and 'I'? He might not have been talking about himself and his girlfriend." There was no way Todd was that delusional. He knew he and Mimi would never be together and he had accepted it. He wouldn't do something as weird as that. And besides, what's the point? _Saying_ Mimi was his girlfriend in no way shape or form took him any closer to her actually _being_ his girlfriend. It made no sense.

"I guess… But…. He's still just too creepy, Mimi. Listen, I got to go to work. Can we finish this later?" In Mark words that meant "Ok, I lost. Just let me leave now while I still have all my body parts in full function."

"Ok, Bye."

"Bye." And he was gone, leaving Mimi to eat alone, thinking.

It was bad enough her shallow work friends had to pick on Todd. But the fact that her own friends did the same infuriated her. Mimi thought back to being in high school. She hated it. She was always being picked on. The little freak. She was lucky enough to escape that in the real world, but she hated that some people didn't. And she hated even more that her friends were adding to it.

After a while she heard noises coming from out of her bedroom and knew Roger was attempting to get up. She would have helped him if it weren't for the fact that he would just stubbornly refuse her help and she would just be stuck standing by, watching as he fell over repeatedly.

After ten minutes Roger came out, leaning heavily on one of his crutches and half-hopping across the floor. Mimi would have laughed if she weren't so mad at him. Roger got some cereal (another thing he insisted on doing himself) and poured himself a bowl before sitting down across from Mimi.

"Good morning," he said, now trusting himself to be able to talk since he didn't have to focus on anything else.

"Good morning," Mimi replied stiffly. Roger stopped eating and looked up at her tone.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Is there something you would like to tell me about?" she asked, leaning back against her chair and folding her arms across her chest.

"Um… Not that I can think of…" _What the hell is she talking about?_ Roger wondered. _I've been inside for the past month. What could I have possibly done?_

"Nothing? So you _didn't_ get into a fight with Todd a month ago?"

"Oh. That." He silently stared at the table top.

"Well?!" Mimi finally demanded after another five minutes of this.

"I'm sorry," he said. And he actually seemed sincere.

"Why?! Why would you do that? As if the poor guy didn't have enough problems with self-esteem, you had to go throw him over a table in public!"

"Should I have done it in private?" Roger asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"No!" Mimi screamed, trying to stay mad, but smiling slightly at his attempt. "You shouldn't have done anything in the first place."

"I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to? How the hell does that work out?"

"I went over to talk to him, ok? I swear. I wanted to know why he was talking about you like you were _his_ girlfriend, or if maybe Benny had just gotten mixed up. Granted, I shouldn't have been so angry when I went to talk to him, but he didn't make it any easier."

"How so?" Mimi asked. She highly doubted Todd could make someone angrier. He was very, for lack of better wording, spine-less and never stood up for anything, especially himself.

"He kept talking about you," Roger said, choosing his words carefully. He wanted to explain what had happened that night, but he didn't want to ruin Mimi's friendship with Todd. She seemed to really enjoy his company and Roger really shouldn't have reacted the way he had. "And eventually I just snapped."

"What do you mean he was 'talking about me'? What did he say?"

"He kept saying our relationship wasn't real. That I was just using you for show and didn't really care about you. And that… It just hurt, ok? I hate anybody thinking that. Even if it's some person I've never even really met.

"So I flipped out and I know it was wrong, I shouldn't have let him get to me. I left to go for a walk and clear my head and I was heading back to the bar to find him and apologize. But I got hit by that car and never got a chance to."

Mimi softened slightly at that. That definitely wasn't nice of Todd to say. But Roger did have a tendency to overreact. That might not have been what Todd had meant at all. Mimi was slightly confused about that night and decided she would just have to let it go. Just pretend like the night never happened. After all, Roger and Todd sure did.

"Could you just promise me that you won't do that again? Todd really has a hard time getting people to like him. He has real self-esteem issues. And I don't think you helped him very much."

"I know, I'm sorry," and he really looked it, "Are you still walking with him to and from work?"

"Yes," Mimi said tensing. She hoped he wasn't going to give her the same "advice" Mark had tried to give her.

"Could you let him know I'm sorry for flipping out on him like that? And sorry for it taking so long. I kind of got a little tied up," he added jokingly and Mimi smiled.

"Sure."

* * *

Three weeks later things were going pretty well. Roger had returned to work and got his hours fixed so they fell during the time Mimi was at work. He actually left an hour earlier and returned home an hour later than she did, but it was better than being away for six hours in the middle of the day, and then being split up again for the four hours Mimi was gone.

So Mimi would walk with Todd to work and then back home with him and then spend an hour waiting for Roger to get home.

Mimi had told Todd that Roger apologized and he accepted looking shocked and confused. After that things were a bit less uncomfortable around Todd, but he still always refused to visit with her when her other friends were over.

All-in-all everything was going fairly well for Mimi. Until one day in the first week of April.

Mimi and Todd had been walking home together, as usual. They were, however being very quiet, which was unusual.

Mimi was sure it was her fault. She and Roger had, for the first time that day, started to actually discuss some wedding plans. They had done this often enough during the times he was stuck at home, but they had never really set anything concrete down yet.

Today they had discussed whom they would invite. Mimi had said she wanted to invite Todd, he was her friend after all, and Roger agreed (Although he looked as if he were trying to hide how much he disliked the idea).

So when they had run out of conversation topics Mimi stupidly mentioned the wedding and asked if he would be interested in coming once they got a date set down.

He had said "yes" but had gotten sullenly quiet after that and Mimi regretted bringing the subject up at all.

They had reached her apartment and Mimi turned to say good-bye when Todd grabbed her and kissed her. It was just like that night two months ago and Mimi was even angrier with him this time.

She pushed him back and was about to shout at him, but her voice caught in her throat. The way he was looking at her… She didn't like it. It was starting to scare her. They stood there, just staring at each other before he finally decided to speak.

"Mimi, I love you. And I know you love me too." he blurted out, still staring at her in that weird way.

"Todd, I…" Mimi wasn't even sure what she was going to say. She was still a little freaked out and couldn't really form a coherent sentence.

"I have always loved you since the first moment I saw you. I mean, how can I not? You're such and amazing person. And I know that the two of us would be so happy together."

"Todd," Mimi interrupted, finally finding something to say, "I understand that you might feel that way, but we can't be together. I'm with Roger and…"

"I know that," Todd cut her off, "And I know that you're scared to leave him, but I can help you…"

"What?" that confused Mimi. When had she ever said anything that would make Todd think like that?

"… We can leave the city together, if you want. I'm sure my parents would help us out. You don't have to stay here, I can help you."

Then he just stared at her in that same creepy way. Mimi couldn't think of anything really logical to say, so she just turned around and unlocked the door, preparing to go inside.

"Mimi, wait. Don't go!" Todd said, grabbing her arm.

"I have to go…" Mimi mumbled stupidly staring at him with wide eyes. She shook his arm off and turned around to head inside.

As soon as the door shut behind her she bolted up the stairs as quickly as she could. She tore into her apartment, slamming the door behind her, double locking it, even putting the chain on.

Then she slid to the floor, leaning against the door and started sobbing.

It seemed a bit silly. She wasn't even entirely sure why she was reacting this way. But the way he had looked at her… It was scary. No one had ever looked at her that way before.

It wasn't the loving look Roger gave her, or the enjoying look her friends did, or the disapproving looks from people on the streets. It was something entirely different. It was… Obsession. And it scared her.

Suddenly Mark's warnings a month ago didn't seem so silly and Mimi wished for nothing more than if she had just never spoken to Todd.

* * *

Mimi didn't go to work at all that week. She didn't go out at all. She barely even ate or slept. She was constantly afraid. She would jump at the slightest noise and start hyperventilating until Roger could calm her down. She would have horrible nightmares every time she tried to sleep that kept her tossing and turning all night. And when she finally woke up she would get sick and throw up for a little while.

Mimi was seriously starting to worry Roger. She knew this, but she still couldn't bring herself to leave the loft. She claimed she was sick every night, so Roger wouldn't make her leave.

It wasn't so bad during the day when she had Roger with her. He always made everything better. But at night he would have to go to work. He didn't really want to leave, especially not with her acting so strangely, but she always assured him that she just felt a little sick and would be better soon.

She wondered how long it would take him before he would start rejecting that excuse. She knew he would only take it for so long, but hopefully by then Todd will have maybe left the city and Mimi could resume life as usual.

But Todd didn't seem to be giving up that easily. He called her every night, just after Roger was out. It was like he knew when exactly he would be gone and Mimi would be alone.

Mimi never answered the phone and would let the answering machine pick up. Then she would sit in fear listening to his panicked message before rewinding the tape, so the next message would go over it, erasing it forever.

Then she could sit in apprehensive fear, awaiting the next one.

"Mimi, are you sure you're ok?" Roger asked for the thousandth time.

"I'm fine," she whispered, barely audible from her spot on the couch.

Roger walked over and sat next to her, pulling her into his arms and letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

"Are you sure? I could just skip tonight, you know. It's only one gig. I'm sure the guys can get that replacement guy for one night."

"No, Roger. Go. It's just a little sickness, I'll be fine."

"Mimi, you've been sick for a week."

"I'll be fine. Just go. Besides, I'm starting to feel a lot better. I might even go to work Monday." she added the last part in hopes that he would just accept it and go.

Roger observed her for a few seconds before deciding that she was right. Him being there never seemed to really help anything. And he didn't want to let his band down by calling in sick his second week back.

"All right, if you're sure," Roger planted a light kiss and her forehead before getting up and grabbing his guitar case. "If you need me, though, you've got the club's number, right?"

"Yes."

"And you know Joanne and Maureen's too, in case you can't get me, right?"

"Yes."

"And Jodie's?"

"Yes. And if the loft catches on fire I call 911. And don't talk to strangers." she added jokingly.

Roger smiled at her.

"I'll be back later. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

A few hours later, Mimi was sitting on the couch, trying to distract herself. She threw aside the fifth magazine she was attempting to read and got up to walk to the fridge. Mimi spent a few minutes rummaging through the fridge before deciding there was nothing good to drink. She grabbed her key and some money and walked down the stairs to the bottom floor, where the vending machines were.

"Mimi?"

Mimi froze where she was, half-way through opening the bottle of pop she had bought. She was sure it was just her imagination. When she turned around he wouldn't be there. There was _no way _he could be there.

She turned slowly around and stared at who had spoken her name. It was Todd.

"Mimi, I've been so worried. Where have you been? You haven't been to work all week! I thought he might have done something to you! Are you ok?"

Mimi just stood there staring at him, still not believing he was there. How had he gotten in? The doors were locked!

"Mimi?" he asked, looking worried. He took a step toward her and Mimi backed up into the vending machine, trying very hard not to hyperventilate.

"Are you ok? You don't look very good." he reached out a hand to her and she jumped to the side.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted.

"Mimi, what's wrong?What did he do to you?"

"He didn't do anything to me, you did! Now get away!" She was backed into a corner, there was nowhere for her to go. Todd stood between herself and the stairs. She inconspicuously began to shake her pop bottle up behind her back.

"Mimi, seriously, what's wrong? We have to talk about this!"

"We don't have to talk about anything. Leave me alone!" she shouted, she twisted the top of her bottle and pop went flying everywhere.

Todd jumped back, covering his face and Mimi threw the bottle at him before sprinting as fast as she could up the stairs. She didn't turn back when she heard him shouting at her.

Mimi flew into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her, locking it the way she had the week before. Then she sat on the floor again, sobbing harder than she had yet.

After a while the phone rang. Mimi looked up at the answering machine in fear. Not even Roger and Mark's light-hearted out-going message could make her feel better now. Especially not when it was followed by the last voice she wanted to hear.

"Mimi! Enough of this, we really have to talk!"

Mimi jumped up and let out a cry of fear and rage as she ripped the answering machine and telephone out of the wall, before flinging them both across the room. Then she ran to the couch and curled up, hugging herself tightly, wishing Roger would come home soon.

* * *

Mimi wasn't sure how long she sat on the couch before she heard the door open. It crashed against the chain she had put into place and stopped whoever was trying to enter from doing so.

"Go away! Why won't you leave me alone?!" Mimi shrieked at the door, jumping up off the couch and preparing to flee to the bathroom if she had to.

"Mimi? What's wrong? Will you please open the door?" Relief flooded through Mimi as she recognized Roger's voice. She ran to the door, unlocked it and threw herself into Roger's arms, wrapping her legs around his waist so he was carrying her. Then she broke down sobbing into his shoulder.

"Mimi! What's wrong?" he asked again, clutching her close to him and rubbing her back soothingly. He shut the door and walked into the apartment.

"Lock the door!" Mimi shrieked and Roger walked back to the door and locked it. Then he walked over to the couch and gently placed Mimi on it, before sitting next to her and immediately taking her back into his arms.

Mimi sobbed hysterically into his shoulder, while he held her, trying his best to calm her down. Now he was extremely worried about her. First he called the loft to ask Mimi if she wanted to get something to eat with him and the line was disconnected. So he went straight home to find the apartment building door wide open and the door to the loft chained shut. And now Mimi was having a nervous break-down.

While she cried, Roger examined the loft and noticed the answering machine and phone were twenty feet from where they should be and lay sprawled across the floor as if someone had thrown them.

"Mimi, what happened to the phone?" Roger asked. Mimi remained silent and Roger stood up to get it. Mimi tightened her grip on him, preventing him from getting up.

"Mimi, I'm just walking over there to get the phone," Roger explained and he got up cautiously, leaving Mimi curled up against herself on the couch. He returned a minute later, after plugging the phone and answering machine back in, and held Mimi again.

"Now, do you want to tell me what's wrong?" Roger asked after a few minutes' silence.

"I did something really stupid…" she choked out. Roger waited patiently for the rest when the phone rang.

"Mimi?! Where the hell are you?! What happened?! I've been calling for two hours! Your phone line was disconnected, what happened?!"

Mimi tensed as she heard the voice. Roger noticed this and looked at her before turning his attention back to the answering machine.

"Listen, Mimi, we really should talk about this! I know you're scared to leave him, but what we have is special and we can't just let this die for such a stupid reason! Please call me back."

He left his phone number and then left his address as well in case Mimi wanted to come over to talk "more privately".

Roger felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. Was this why Mimi had been acting so strange this week? Because she had cheated on him?

Roger turned back to Mimi to question her, but stopped. The look on her face was not what he had expected. She didn't look guilty or angry or ashamed. She just looked terrified. Her eyes were wide and her face was the palest he Had ever seen it.

"Mimi? Are you ok?"

Mimi broke down sobbing again and Roger waited patiently, but scared, for her to finish. Finally she did and Roger looked at her for a few seconds.

"Mimi, would you please tell me what is wrong?" he asked her quietly.

Mimi hesitated a second before blurting out the whole story. Everything about walking home with Todd and what had happened the week before. About him calling her non-stop and then tonight, when he showed up_inside_ the building.

"He got _inside_ the building, Roger! How could he do that? It's supposed to be locked! And now he still won't stop calling and if he can get into the building he can probably get into our apartment, and I'm just so scared!" she ended by breaking down crying again and Roger held her until she calmed down.

"Mimi, listen to me," Roger said, pulling back slightly so he could look at her. He took her face gently in his hands so she would look at him and continued. "Mimi, you can't let him run your life like this, ok? So you should go back to work on Monday…" -Mimi's eyes widened in fear at the thought- "And I'll go with you, ok? I'll work the day shift and have Maureen or someone come over and stay with you during the day. Then I'll go with you to work and I'll have a talk with him if he's there and I'll tell him to stay away from you. He probably didn't mean to scare you and he'll probably leave you alone."

"Roger, that won't work. He'll just come back when you're gone."  
"Then I'll go with you all week, so he'll know I'm watching out for him. Mimi, you can't let this guy keep you locked up inside all day. It's not right. He's just one guy."  
"You don't understand…" Mimi began, but Roger cut off.

"Mimi, I won't let him hurt you. You'll be fine. What's the worst he can do, anyway?"

Mimi didn't have an argument for that, so Roger kissed her softly on the forehead, and then pulled her against him again.

As Mimi sat there she realized Roger was right. Todd wouldn't dare do anything to her with Roger there. And she really didn't like the idea of being locked inside for the remainder of her short life.

Maybe after this she would finally be able to get on with her life.

* * *

_Wow, I'm almost done with this story (In a story-telling perspective, that is.)The next four chapters will be the climactic chapters and they'll be a bit shorter than the others (At least, the way I have them planned they will be.) But if I combine them into twos they don't make much sense and then the chapters will be very long. After that I have one last chapter and then I'm done. I have another story planned after this, though. It'll be a sort-of sequel to this. Todd and the rest of this story won't really have anything to do with the story (except perhaps some mentions.) and it won't be a mystery/thriller, just an ordinary drama, but it follows the events of this story. And I have many others to follow that. I have enough story ideas to keep me occupied for a year. :p If anyone cares to read them, that is. Well, I'll let you all decide that once you've started reading the others. :)_


	9. Attack

_I cannot stress how sorry I am for the length of time this took. It's quite inexcusable, a week and a half! I'm ashamed. :( Sorry. I forgot I had Leadership Camp last week and then I had tons of homework to make-up because of the Leadership Camp and I had to baby-sit. Sorry for giving you all a run-down of my life, but I barely had anytime to write this week. I swear I'll have the next one up very soon, though. Hopefully tomorrow depending on how much time I get to write. I WILL have it up this weekend, though._

_Once again, thank you Steph. Very, very much. :)_

_Enjoy._

* * *

Mimi stood nervously outside the entrance to the backstage and dressing rooms. She wasn't sure if she could do this and was having doubts about Roger's plan. 

"Mimi, it'll be fine," Roger assured her for about the thousandth time. "I'll be watching for him and I'll make sure he leaves you alone."

"Ok," Mimi said, trying to sound braver and surer than she felt.

"I'll be right over there watching," Roger assured her and that made her feel slightly better. He bent down and kissed her lightly on the cheek, "I love you."

"I love you too," Mimi said and she turned around and headed to her dressing room to change.

A small part of her, the little bit of her old self that still remained, wondered how much trouble Roger would get into this time he came with her to work. He had been banned that one time, of course, but that had been a while ago. Kyle had practically forgotten about that time and Jake, the bouncer, was good friends with Mimi.

Roger stood around near the back of the club, his eyes roaming for any sign of Todd. Finally he saw him enter and walk to the very back corner of the club, as far away from anyone else as he could get.

Roger calmly walked over to him and repeated in his head constantly his resolution to not get violent this time. He was sure it was more likely than not a wasted attempt.

"Hey, Todd," Roger said. He tried his best to sound reasonable and calm, but Todd jumped a mile anyway and stared at Roger as if he had screamed in his face. But he quickly re-composed himself and put on what Roger could only assume was an attempt at a brave face.

"What do you want this time?' he snapped, looking slightly braver, but still having that fearful look over-shadowing his face slightly.

"I want you to stay away from Mimi. And I mean it this time. No more walking her to work; no more walking her home; no more calling our loft non-stop. Just stay away from her and leave her alone."

"What if I don't want to?" he asked, taking a step closer to Roger. Roger could feel his temper flare slightly, but fought to keep it down before speaking again.

"Then you'll have to deal with me."

"Ooh, I'm so scared."

"Listen, you're really scaring her, ok? She's too scared to even leave the apartment because of you. You're really freaking her out with your over-obsessive behavior and you need to just leave her alone." Roger's voice was starting to raise, but no one took any notice. They were in a less crowded area and everyone was focused on the dancing girls.

"I'm freaking her out, or you are?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roger knew that he was just trying tog et a rise out of him and that he shouldn't fall for it, but he was anyway.

"You know what I mean. You're an over-controlling freak who won't let Mimi do anything. You're afraid of losing your hold on her, so you keep her locked up inside and tell me to stay away from her. But it won't work! We love each other and we'll be together in the end, no matter what you do!"

"You are delirious," Roger said, about to lose his cool.

"No, you are delirious. You can't keep scaring her anymore. Eventually she'll realize she can leave and then you won't be able to hurt her anymore."

That made Roger snap. He grabbed Todd and flung him backward into the wall.

"I don't want to fight you, Todd. But I will if I have to! And if you don't back off and leave Mimi alone I will. And I'll make sure you can never walk or talk or do anything useful again!"

Todd stood there staring at Roger with wide eyes for a while before turning around and practically running out the door.

Roger stared after him, trying to calm himself down. That definitely wasn't nice, but he didn't care anymore. Todd had to learn to stay away from Mimi and it was better than killing him.

Finally he turned his attention finally to the stage, where Mimi was just coming out. He saw her eyes roam the crowd for him. He raised his hand slightly and gave her an encouraging smile. Mimi smiled back and then started dancing.

* * *

"I'm not sure sure about this…" Mimi worried aloud for the fiftieth time. 

"Mimi, it will be fine. He won't come near you again," Roger reassured her. They had been having this on again off again conversation for the past three hours.

Roger had gone with Mimi to work ever day that week and now Mimi was finally going to go it alone and see if Roger's warning had worked on Todd.

"But you won't be there this time. What if he decides to come back?"

"I told you, Mimi, it'll be fine. I'll walk you there and then pick you back up. If at anytime, though, you feel uncomfortable or unsafe call me and I'll come pick you up, ok?"

Mimi thought that over. It was only a twenty minute walk from the loft to the club. And if she were freaked about something Roger would most likely run, so that time could be cut in half.

"Ok, fine," she agreed finally. She had to start getting her life back. And this was the second step towards doing so.

* * *

Roger walked Mimi to the entrance to the backstage and dressing rooms. 

"Remember, if you don't feel write at anytime just call me and I'll pick you up."

"Promise?" Mimi knew he would and there was probably no need for such paranoia anyway. She just wanted to be as sure as possible.

"Promise," Roger kissed her and then turned around, exiting the club. Mimi watched him go for a few seconds before turning around and heading into her dressing room.

Keisha and Mariah were talking and laughing loudly, as usual. Mimi sat down at her vanity and began doing her make-up.

"So, Mimi," Keisha finally said, "Whatever happened to that not-so-secret admirer of yours?"

"Yeah, whatever happened to that freak?" Mariah asked, joining in with a small giggle.

"What? Oh, him. Uh… Nothing. Nothing happened. Why, should something have happened?" Mimi had to use all her self control to keep her voice even and stop her hand from shaking. She was going to take her eye out with the mascara if she didn't stop.

"No, I was just curious," Keisha giggled.

Mimi changed into her outfit and walked down the long hallway with the other girls. The whole time she was trying to stop herself from hyperventilating.

This wasn't right. This was one of the places she usually felt most comfortable at, oddly enough. She absolutely hated all of the customers, of course, but she loved dancing and she loved being in the spotlight. She was in her element when she up there. It wasn't right that she should be afraid of it now.

Mimi stepped up onto the stage and began dancing, focusing only on the movements of her body. To her surprise it actually calmed her down a bit. Pretty soon she was barely worried at all.

There was still a small part in the back of her mind that worried, though. A small part of her that was sure he would show up and was dreading when he would.

So she half thought it was an illusion when she first saw Todd standing in the back of the room, staring at her. She stopped thinking for a second and slipped, falling to the floor of the stage. She didn't get up. She was too afraid to.

Keisha and Mariah were at her side immediately to find out what was wrong. Mimi could hear murmurings through the crowd as people wondered what was going on and why some of the dancers had stopped.

"Mimi, are you ok?" Mariah asked, kneeling by Mimi's side.

Mimi stared wide-eyed past her into the crowd and saw Todd heading toward her, pushing his way through the crowd.

"Um… yeah… I'm fine…" Mimi stammered. She was panicking now. Anys econd Todd would reach the stage and what would she do then? She had to get away from here.

"Mimi, you look really pale. Maybe you should go lie down," Keisha said, staring at Mimi with worried concern in her eyes.

"Yeah, I think I'll go do that. In fact, I think I'll just call Roger to come pick me up. I feel kind of sick." And with that Mimi practically leaped off the stage and sprinted back to her dressing room.

Mimi slammed the door behind her and ran to the back wall, where her vanity was. She collapsed into her chair and immediately broke down, sobbing hysterically.

After a few minutes Mimi finally walked over to the phone on the corner table and picked it up to call Roger. The answering machine picked up. Of course. Why the hell did they only have it pick up after two rings? What a stupid idea.

"Roger? Are you there? Please pick up I really…"

"Mimi?" Mimi let out a sigh of relief as she heard Roger's voice on the other end of the phone, "What's wrong?"

"He's here. Roger, he didn't listen to you at all, he showed up as soon as you stopped coming. And now he's here and he saw me and I freaked out and I'm so scared. I need you to come get me."

"Ok, Mimi. Calm down. I'll be there in a few minutes, ok?" she heard the line click as Roger hung up and then she sat down, breathing deeply to calm herself down some more.

Then she stood up and walked behind the folding wall she and the other girls changed behind to change out of her work outfit. She pulled her black dress on, trying her best to concentrate on getting her arms into the complicated sleeves **(A/N: Think movie-version "Out tonight" dress.)** and was just clicking her gold belt together when she heard the door open and shut.

"Roger, is that you?" Mimi asked, stepping out from behind the folding wall. She froze in place. It wasn't Roger.

* * *

_Todd's POV_

_Roger finally decided Mimi was a big girl and could go to work by herself. It was about time. I had been waiting a week. I figured he had better things to do and that he would crack sooner, eager to be away from spending the whole night at his trapped girlfriend's job._

_I watched her dance for a few minutes until she noticed me. Her eyes widened and she immediately fell over. I jumped up, rushing through the crowd to get to her. She could have been hurt. I couldn't make out what she and those other horrible girls were saying, but Mimi kept shooting glances in my direction._

_Finally, she got up and rushed backstage, but not before taking one last frantic glance in my direction. Obviously, she wanted me to follow her so we could talk. This was the one place, after all, where Roger couldn't control her for the moment._

_I waited until the bouncer who stood at the entrance was distracted by one of the girls and then slipped behind the curtain, walking down the long hallway of doors._

_I looked at each door, wondering which one Mimi was behind and, to my relief, I discovered they had names written on pieces of paper taped to them. There, at the end of the hall right next to the back exit, was Mimi's dressing room._

_I opened the door and entered, shutting and locking it behind me. I did't want someone bursting ina dn interrupting us. This was important._

_After standing there for a few seconds Mimi emerged from behind the folding wall in the corner. She froze once she spotted me and just stared at me._

"_We have to talk," I said, taking a step toward her. She took a step back, pushing herself as far against the wall as she could get. Roger must have her more scared than I thought._

"_What are you doing here, Todd?" she asked. Her voice shook, though she worked hard to keep it hidden._

"_I came here to talk to you. Because we really need to have a full discussion about this. Just you and me." I took another step towards her and she pressed herself against the wall even more. "Mimi, you don't have to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not like him."_

"_You're so delusional," Mimi whispered, "He's never hurt me. _You_ hurt me!"_

"_What? No, I didn't. I would never do that."_

"_Well, you did. Not physically, but you still did."_

"_How did I do that?" I was standing right in front of her now. I could reach and out and touch her now._

"_You scare me." she was breathing very fast now and I wondered what Roger had done to her._

"_No, I don't. You know I don't. He does. But he can't anymore. Mimi, I've told you this. We can run away. We don't have to stay here. We can leave the city, the state, the whole damn country! I don't care, as long as I have you."_

"_Why won't you understand me? I don't want you! I never wanted you! You scare me and I hate it! Now, just go away and leave me alone. Please." She looked close to tears, so I reached forward to comfort her._

_She shoved me backward and then ran around me towards the door. I grabbed her arm and spun her around to face me again. She tried to scream and that caught me off-guard. Mimi must be more brain-washed than It hought. _

_But I couldn't let her scream. Then someone would come running and they're all on Roger's side. Theyw oudl probably have me arrested. So I covered her mouth, pushing her backward slightly into the vanity._

"_Mimi, will you please just listen to me? I love you and I…"_

_I stopped then, listening. I heard the door knob rattle and then someone knocking._

"_Mimi? Are you in there? Are you ready to go?" It was Roger. I looked at the clock beside the door. It wasn't even 10:00 yet. Man, Roger was more controlling than I thought. I began thinking quickly, trying to decide what to do. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my hand. I jumped back from Mimi, staring at my hand. She bit me. Then she tried to run around me._

"_Roger, help!" she screamed before I managed to grab onto her hair and pull her back. She kicked at me and we both ended up on the floor. I pinned her beneath me and leaned my arm across her throat, pressing against her vocal cords so she couldn't scream and couldn't bite me again._

_Mimi thrashed around, trying to kick me off of her, but I wasn't giving up. She was going to hear everything I had to say. She had to. It as the only way we could move on. _

_Now I could hear Roger beating furiously on the door and shouting things. We only had a little time left before he managed to get in. And I had no idea what the hell we would do when he did._

* * *

Roger practically sprinted to the club. He was worried. Mimi had sounded close to a nervous break-down on the phone. He was also angry. How dare Todd come back, even after Roger warned him to stay away? 

On the other hand, Todd might not have been meaning to go there for Mimi at all. It is, after all, basically a strip club. And a lot of guys go there. Who the hell was Roger trying to kid? There were tons of strip clubs around, they lived in New York City! Todd had gone there for Mimi. Roger ran faster.

Roger worked his way through the club as quickly as he could toward the entrance to the backstage and dressing rooms. Finally he made it to the long hallway with all the rooms and walked to the end where Mimi's was.

He tried opening the door, but it was locked. Mimi must be seriously freaking out about this. Roger knocked on the door, but got no answer.

"Mimi? Are you in there? Are you ready to go?" Roger waited a few seconds and still got no answer. He was considering going to Jake and asking for the key when he heard a scream followed by a crash.

Roger felt his heart stop. Mimi hadn't locked the door. Todd had. And he was in there with Mimi. Roger felt as close to panicking as he had ever been in his life. He had no idea what to do. He could run and find someone to get a key so he could unlock the door, but Mimi's dressing room was right next to the back exit. It wouldn't be too hard for Todd tog rab her and run out it while Roger was gone.

Roger started beating on the door and shouting at Todd to open it, but he didn't listen. Roger didn't think he would. So he mustered up all his strength and kicked at the door as hard as he could. It flew open, slamming into the wall and coming part-way off the hinges.

All thoughts of trying to stay calm and manage his anger flew out of Roger's mind as he entered the dressing room. Todd had Mimi pinned to the ground, his arm lying across her throat. It was easy to see she couldn't breathe and all Todd did was talk to her, as if they were having some pleasant conversation at someone's house.

Roger ran at Todd. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him off Mimi, throwing him backward into one of the mirrors. **(A/N: Am I just crazy, or does anyone else think it looks really cool when someone gets thrown into a mirror:p)**

Later, Roger realized it probably would've been better to just grab onto Todd and hold him there until someone could call 911. But at the time all he cared about was Mimi and Todd was able to slip past them and run out the back exit.

He ran to her side, helping Mimi sit up. She began breathing in huge gasps and coughing. Roger wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, rubbing her back and whispering words of comfort to her as she broke down.

Roger heard quick footsteps and they were soon joined by Keisha, Mariah, and Jake.

"What the hell happened?" Jake asked, taking in the scene of the broken door and vanity and Mimi freaking out on the floor.

Roger quickly explained to them the short version of Todd stalking Mimi and how he showed up at the club tonight.

"Man… See, Mimi? I told you that guy was a freak," Mariah said with an air of trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work and instead Mimi began sobbing harder.

"Hey, hey. Mimi, calm down. She was just joking," Keisha said, rushing down to kneel beside Mimi's other side and rubbing her back slightly.

"You should have told me about it. I'd've made sure he couldn't even walk again let alone make it to the club," Jake said angrily. He took his job very seriously. He saw the girls as his sisters and if any guy ever tried to hurt one of them, he usually ended up in the hospital.

"I tried that," Roger said, still comforting her, "He seemed harmless enough. Just a little to over-the-top verbally. I never thought he would ever actually do anything physical, though…"

"Well, I'm going to call the police," Mariah said.

"No, Mimi and I will stop by the station on the way back. I don't want to cause any trouble for you guys by having a police car show up."

"Ok, if you sure…"  
Roger stood up slowly, helping Mimi to her feet. Keisha handed Mimi her coat and Roger helped her put it on; her hands were shaking too much for her to achieve on her own. Then he wrapped his arm protectively around her and went to leave.

"We'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Keisha said.

"Take care," Mariah added, trying to redeem herself from her thoughtless comment earlier on.

"And if you ever hear from that guy again, let me know and I'll kick his ass for you." Jake added.

"Thanks," Mimi finally spoke, smiling slightly.

Roger rubbed her arm and then the two turned around and left the club, heading towards the police station.

* * *

_It's not that easy. There's more, don't worry. I have three chapters left in the climax and then one last chapter and then I'm done.. Wow. I never thought I'd finish this. But I better not count my chickens until they hatch. :p_


	10. For You

Hello, all. This chapter is incredibly short, I know. I'm sorry. But if I added anything from the next chapter (Which will most likely be just as short) it doesn't make as much sense.

Once again, thanx to my beta-reader, Steph.

On another note, does everyone like my new shield? It's extra shiny and self-cleaning, see? pushes button and windshield wipers come on I think it's great. So, I'm just going to chill back here for a bit, I got my Harry Potter and Twilight books and some chocolate... I'd be good to stay back here for a week if I wanted to... Not that I have any need to... Just if I wanted to... Anyway, to the chapter. Enjoy. :)

* * *

Roger and Mimi didn't make it back home until almost midnight. They had stopped by the police station and filed a report. They said they would send a car over to pick him up and then give them a call. 

They walked into the quiet loft and dropped their coats on the floor, not even bothering to hang them up somewhere. The whole building was quiet. It was Spring Break, so Mark had gone with Jodie and the rest of her family to Canada for the week to make up for him missing out that one time. Collins had the week off as well, so he had decided to go with them. He had always wanted to see Niagara Falls from the "tourist's side".

"I'm gonna go crash," Roger said, heading toward the bedroom, "Are you coming?"

"In a minute. I need to wash up a bit first," Mimi was still trying to calm herself down. She knew it would work better if she were lying down in Roger's arms, but she wanted to wash herself up first.

She felt… dirty. This was all her fault. If she had never invited Todd into their lives then none of this ever would have happened. Now she couldn't eat or sleep. She couldn't even leave the house alone, for fear of him attacking her. And now she knew he could and would do that physically as well as mentally.

She felt terrible. And what was worse, she had dragged Roger into this. Now he had to always be there looking out for her like she was a small child. Not that he didn't do that anyway, but now he absolutely had to and Mimi felt guilty for that.

Mimi washed her face off, letting the cool water splash across her face. She heard the phone ringing in the distance, but didn't have the energy to run out there to answer. She stood still, staring at herself in the mirror for a few minutes before heading down the hall to her and Roger's bedroom.

The curtain was mostly drawn across their window. Only a sliver of silver moonlight fell across the floor, not reaching the bed. Mimi collapsed on top of the bed, not bothering to undress or even take her boots off.

She lay there for a while, quiet, before turning over on her side to stare at Roger in the dim light. Mimi couldn't completely make him out in the near pitch darkness, but she could tell that he had fallen asleep. Unbelievable. Guys could sleep through and after anything. Mimi almost laughed as she stared at him.

Mimi reached out a hand to ran through his hair a few times, thinking. Then she stopped, freezing with her hand still in his hair. She felt something wet and sticky. Mimi stared at Roger again, trying to make him out in the darkness, but she couldn't.

"Roger," Mimi said quietly, shaking him slightly with her other hand, the sticky one held out in front of her. He didn't respond. Mimi stumbled off the bed, still staring at his still form, her hand held out in front of her. As she backed up the ray of moonlight fell across her hand, illuminating the wet, sticky substance that had rubbed off of Roger's head and onto Mimi's hand. It was blood.

Mimi screamed at the top of her lungs. She didn't have time to break down sobbing like before. She had to call 911, she had to get help. So she sprinted out of the room as fast as she could, not even thinking about _why_ there could possibly be blood in Roger's hair.

Todd grabbed Mimi from behind as she flew out of the bedroom. Her feet flew off the floor and she began struggling and kicking to get him off her. Finally, she bit down on his hand as she had earlier. He released her and she ran towards the kitchen area, standing on the other side of the metal table from Todd.

Mimi stared at Todd in disbelief and fear. Todd stared right back at her with a look of concern and confusion on his face. They stood there in silence, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Mimi spoke.

"You killed Roger," she choked out, not able to keep her voice from cracking. As the realization of this sunk in, tears began spilling across her face.

"I had to, Mimi. I did it for you. For us."

Mimi stared at him as if he were insane, which he probably was.

"If you were going to do something for me that would help me it would be to leave me alone! What the hell is wrong with you?!"  
"I did it for us, Mimi. So we could be together. He was in the way. You were too scared to leave him. So I got rid of him for you."  
"You didn't do this _for_ me! You did this _to_ me! You killed the only person I had left in my life! I loved him! Why couldn't you just accept that and leave?!"

"You didn't love him, Mimi. You were stuck with him. But it's ok now, because you can leave. I fixed it. This time I actually succeeded. You're free."  
Mimi stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds before something registered.

"_This_ time? What do you mean 'this time'?"

"I failed last time. I can't believe someone could get hit by a car and survive, but somehow he managed. But he won't recover this time, Mimi, I swear. It's ok now."

Mimi stood there numbly, gripping the table for support.

"You hit Roger with that car…?"  
"I had to, Mimi. You wouldn't do anything about it and I had to help you get away. He was violent and he could've hurt you."

Mimi stood still in shocked silence, trying to comprehend what was happening.

"You bastard…" she whispered suddenly, "You bastard! I hate you!" she was suddenly screaming at him. Then she grabbed the first thing within her reach, a coffee mug Roger had left on the table earlier, and threw it as hard as she could at Todd.

He jumped out of the way and it hit the wall behind him with a crash, shattering into tiny pieces. Todd stared at her in disbelief.

"Mimi, what are you doing?"

"I hate you! I hate you! I never want to see you again! Get the fuck out of my apartment now!" she began throwing more things at him. Everything she could find in the kitchen area, all the while shouting at Todd until she was soon just rambling in a loud voice.

"Mimi… Mimi, stop!" Todd shouted at her, dodging out of the way of her flying objects. "Mimi, calm down! I did this for you! Why can't you understand that! I love you! I love you so much! I love you more than the air I breathe, I'd die without you!"

Mimi froze, her hand held back about to throw a plate at Todd. Her hand began to shake and she felt her fingers loosen their grip on the plate. She barely noticed as it crashed to the floor, shattering.

"How did you…?" Mimi couldn't find the courage to finish her question.

"You have no idea how hard it is to watch the love of your life promise herself to someone else. Especially when you know that someone else is all wrong for her. He didn't mean a word he said, Mimi, I know he didn't. He was just using you. He only wanted you as a trophy girl. Someone he could show off to his friends. He didn't care about you, only your body."

Mimi began shaking again. How could he know that? How could he possibly know what Roger had said to her? What had happened? She felt sick and thought she might throw up.

"Have… Have you been _following_ me?" Mimi asked, the nausea feeling getting worse with each breath you took.

"I had to, Mimi. I had to make sure he didn't do anything to you."

Mimi leaned against the table, trying her hardest not to throw up. She didn't notice Todd slowly creeping around the table to where she stood. He reached out a hand to grab her arm and she flinched back, kicking at him.

"Mimi, wait! I'm not going to hurt you!"

Mimi darted around him and sprinted towards the fire escape. Todd grabbed her and she struggled again, causing them both to fall to the floor. Mimi scrambled back to her feet and started running again. But before she could get any further Todd grabbed her ankle, causing her to fly forward, slamming her head onto the corner of the window seat.

She fell to the ground and lay there, feeling the warm blood pour out of her head and pool onto the floor. She pushed herself up onto her hands and started trying to crawl away. She didn't get very far before she fall again, unable to hold herself up. She felt her consciousness slipping away and tried her hardest not to pass out.

She tried one last time to get up before everything went completely black.

* * *

I would like to remind you all that if you kill me, you'll never find out how the story ends. So, until next time I'll just hang out behind my self-cleaning fangirl-proof shield. 


	11. Rescue

_OK, here's the next chapter. I'm not sure I like the chapter title much, but I couldn't think of anything better, so it's staying. :p_

_Thanx once again to my awesome beta-reader, Steph._

_Enjoy. :)_

* * *

_Todd's POV_

_I stared at Mimi lying on the floor. _

"_Mimi?" I asked, "Are you all right?" She had fallen and hit her head. I didn't know what to do. I walked over to her and slightly shook her. She didn't get up. But she was breathing, that was good. She was fine. Just asleep. She was probably tired from the long night. I picked her up and walked out the door, heading back to my apartment._

_It was over now, finally. Roger was dead and now Mimi and I could get on with our lives. I still wanted to move out of the city, though. Maybe back to my hometown. It was nice there. Unlike here, where there were freaks around every corner._

_I had to really concentrate on not dropping Mimi. She was very light, but I was still shaking slightly from earlier. I went home and got the gun my dad bought me for protection. Roger was violent and crazy and I couldn't let him be around Mimi any longer. I probably should've just shot him. That would've been so quick and easy. But it would've freaked Mimi out, I know. So I waited until he laid down and then beat him in the head with it. There's no way he could've survived that. I hit him too hard and he stopped moving afterwards. Now he would never bother us again._

_I laid Mimi down on my bed. I'll just let her sleep this off. I looked at her and realized something. She had blood on her forehead. She must've hit her head when she fell. I got a wash cloth and some band-aids and cleaned the wound as best I could. It looked pretty bad, but I know it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. That's the cardinal rule of injuries. After cleaning as much of the blood as I could off her face (there was a lot more than I thought there would be) I placed some gauze on the cut and held it in place with some band-aids. She would be fine._

_I left the room, locking it on my way out. I didn't want to treat Mimi like a prisoner, but if she woke up in an unfamiliar room she might wonder out and get lost. I sat down on the couch trying to decide what to do. I couldn't sleep. I was too keyed up. So what could I do? I could make something for Mimi to eat. Roger always did that for her and she always seemed pleased by it. So I got up and walked into my kitchen, deciding what I would make._

* * *

Roger moaned. His head was killing him. Why? What had happened last night. This slight nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him he should get up, but he ignored it. Getting up as the last thing he felt like doing. With his eyes still closed, he tried to judge what time it was. He didn't notice any sunlight filtering through his eyelids, so it must still be dark out. All the more reason to stay asleep… 

Roger lay there, thinking… What had happened last night? He walked Mimi to work… And then stayed home, working on a song for her. Normal. Like every other night. Then he remembered…

Roger sat bolt upright, his eyes snapping open. He sat still, holding his head, trying to stop the dizziness he felt from sitting up too fast. He blinked and looked around, trying to make his eyes focus. It was still pitch black in his room. He looked over at the door which was open half-way. He saw no light out there either. What time was it? He looked at the clock. 2:48 AM. He had been out of it for over two hours.

He jumped off the bed and turned the light on before looking around. Mimi was nowhere to be seen. He turned to check the living area when he caught site of himself in the mirror Mimi had put up above the dresser. He was a mess. He had dried blood mashed into his hair and some on his forehead. That explained the headache… But where was Mimi.

Roger ran into the living area, panicking.

"Mimi!" he called. Silence. He ran to the bathroom, the door was wide open and she wasn't there. "Mimi!" he called again. Where was she? Roger could feel his heart accelerate and his breathing become shallow as he ran from room to room, still unable to find her.

He started running to the fire escape, to see if maybe she was sitting out there, smoking a cigarette like she usually did after a stressful experience. Stressful? _That_ sure was an understatement. Roger stopped dead beside the window, staring in horror at the floor. There was a small pool of blood on the floor, next to it were a few bloody hand prints, and then another small pool.

Roger had to take a few minutes to calm himself down before he could think clearly enough to decide what to do next. His first thought, obviously, was to call the police. He vaguely thought of what a useless action that would be. Hadn't they just gone to the police? And they, clearly, hadn't done a very good job.

He was jut about to pick the phone up before he saw the red light blinking, letting him know there was a new message. He considered ignoring it, but curiosity got the better of him and he pushed play and listened.

"Hello, Ms. Marquez. This is Officer Witter with the New York City Police Department," an unfamiliar male voice spoke. "I'm calling in regards to a complaint you lodged earlier this evening against one Todd Bennet. We sent a squad car by his apartment earlier this evening, but he wasn't home. So we'll be sending another one over tomorrow during the day when he's more likely to be home. Hope you have a pleasant evening."

Roger stood still in shock, staring at the answering machine. The police in this city were useless. This guy attacks Mimi and all they do is send a squad car by his apartment? And when he's not there they give up and go home! Why couldn't they at least bother to send someone over here, to make sure he wouldn't come here for her? Which he did! And now she was gone. Roger quickly dismissed calling the cops. It was obvious now that they wouldn't do anything useful.

Roger was going to have to go after them himself. He walked over to the door, picking his coat up and putting it on, wincing slightly as he saw Mimi's coat lying on the floor and realized she was out in the cold with not elemental protection on.

He stepped out the door and started heading down the steps, but what could he do? Where would Todd go? Home, obviously. He didn't see what he was doing as wrong, so he would see no problem with returning home. But Roger had no idea where he lived. But he knew where he could find out…

Roger turned around and sprinted back up the stairs, crashing through the door to the loft and running over to the answering machine. He had to re-wind and fast forward a a few times before he got to what he wanted. The message Todd had left the week before, begging Mimi to call him or visit him. Thank God they hadn't rewound the tape yet. Roger scribbled the address down and bolted out the door again. He wasn't coming back until he had Mimi back in his arms, safe and sound.

Roger climbed up the fire escape to where Todd's apartment should be. There were afew different windows and Roger looked in each one, looking for Mimi. A few had blinds or curtains over them, but most just opened up to empty living rooms or people sleeping in their beds.

Finally, Roger looked in a small window about halfway along the fire escape. It was set high off the railing and inside Roger could see a small figure sprawled across a bed. Not really sleeping, because she still had clothes and shoes and and looked way too pale to just be sleeping. It was Mimi. Roger tried to find some way to open the window, but it only opened from the inside.

He moved along the fire escape to the next window over. It opened into an empty living room. He couldn't see anyone, but it looked like it was the same apartment. This window opened. Roger crept into the room as silently as possible and headed to the door that looked like it would lead to the other window's room. It was locked. From the outside. And this guy said _Roger_ was controlling. Roger unlocked it and slipped inside.

He had to stifle a gasp. This was the right room. Mimi was there, lying on the bed, looking deathly pale. But Roger's attention was first held by the walls of the room. They were covered, every inch of them, in pictures of Mimi. There were some of her dancing; shopping with Maureen, Joanne, and Jodie; walking down the streets; sitting at the metal table at the loft; sleeping. They all seemed to have been taken without Mimi's awareness. And aside from those there were also other pictures. Pictures of her smiling directly at the camera; ones of her posing; some with Angel; even some that had been taken with Roger, although Roger's half of the picture had been cut out. They were all photos that had originally held places in Mimi's scrapbooks.

This guy was absolutely insane. He had been stalking Mimi for who knew how long. He had been in their loft while she was asleep. Roger shivered at the thought. His attempt at killing Roger earlier seemed very small compared to what he had been doing to Mimi for the past few months.

Roger hurried over to the bed and kneeled next to Mimi. He had to get her out of here fast. But how? The window was small and high off the failing of the fire escape. So Roger couldn't carry Mimi out. And if he left this room, Todd might catch him. Their only only chance was if Roger managed to wake Mimi up for a few seconds. Just so she could climb out the window herself. Roger could carry her after that. He'd carry her to California if it got her away from Todd.

But the odds of her waking up soon didn't seem likely. She was pale. Really pale. And was barely breathing. Roger noticed some gauze on her head being held in place by a few band-aids. It clearly wasn't working. Roger could see the blood that had quickly soaked through. Mimi needed a hospital, what the hell was Todd thinking just putting a band-aid on it? She could be seriously hurt. There was no way she would wake up. But Roger had to try.

"Mimi, baby," Roger said soothingly stroking her hair, "Can you hear me?" he got no response, he wasn't expecting one, but he tried anyway, keeping his voice as low as possible, "Mimi, you have to get up. I have to get you out of here. Please wake up."

She still didn't respond. She didn't even move. Mimi was a very restless person, she was always moving. Even in bed she was always moving at some point. Now she was absolutely still.

Roger was considering his chance of getting Mimi out through the front door without Todd noticing when he heard the door open. His head snapped up to see Todd standing in the doorway, pointing a gun at Roger.

* * *

_Todd's POV_

_I left the noodles cooking on the stove (one of the few things I knew how to make) before heading into the bedroom to check on Mimi. I stopped dead when I reached the door. It was unlocked. I was sure I had locked it on my way out. I walked back to the kitchen and picked the gun up off the counter where I had set it down. Then I slowly walked back to the room, being careful not to make a sound._

_He was there, of course. Impossible as it was, he was somehow still alive._

"_You just won't die, will you?" I asked in a shocked voice. He just stared at me, kneeling on the bed next to Mimi._

"_Todd, what are you doing?" Roger asked me. And for the first time, I was slightly smug to notice, he seemed afraid. He tensed his body and stared at me with wide eyes._

"_Get away from Mimi," I commanded, sounding much braver than I felt. Which was ridiculous. _I_ was the one with a gun here. I had no reason to be afraid._

"_Todd, put the gun away." he seemed to be trying to sound reasonable, but I wasn't stupid enough to listen. _

"_Why should I? So you can kill me?"_

"_No, Todd. I wouldn't do that."_

"_Yes, you would. That would make things a whole lot easier for you, wouldn't it? If I were dead. Then you could just take Mimi and leave. She would be stuck back in that miserable life forever. Well, I won't let you do that!"_

"_Interesting how you say _I_ want to kill you and yet _you_ are the one who tried to kill me. I'm not the one threatened here, Todd." He didn't have to explain for me to know he wasn't referring to my physical safety._

"_You're wrong. Mimi would never choose you over me if she had a real choice. She loves me. If she wasn't so scared of you all the time we would have left a long time ago."_

"_She was scared of me?" Roger asked incredulously. "What the hell do you call tonight then? She's not scared of me, Todd. She's scared of you."_

"_No, she's not. Why would she be scared of me? I'm not the one who hurts her. The one who yells at her and ignores her until I feel like I'm losing my control over her."_

"_Sure, I've yelled at her, everyone yells at everybody at times. It's not exactly healthy to just keep your anger bottled up inside until you explode. And I've never ignored her. Worked too much and neglected her, yeah. But that was one of the biggest mistake I've ever made and I realize that now. As for changing once I felt like I was losing my control over her. That's one of the most ridiculous things you've ever said. And that's saying something. _You_ aren't the reason I started paying more attention to her. _She_ is. And I don't have any control over her. If you actually knew Mimi, you would know that the only one who controls Mimi is Mimi. And as for hurting her. I don't care what else you excuse me of, but hurting her is one thing I have _never_ done. Not physically, at least. I've never laid a hand on her. That's not something you can say."_

"_What the hell does that mean? Do you think _I_ would hurt Mimi? I would never hurt her!" _

"_You already did," he said grimly, nodding to Mimi lying on the bed, "Look at her, Todd. She needs a hospital. Please just let us leave." He was a very good actor. It almost looked like he was pleading with me. But I knew he was just trying to get me to let him take her again and I wasn't going to let that happen._

"_You're lying. I never did anything to her! I never would!"_

"_Todd, look at her! Look at the bruises on her throat! Look at her head! Look at how pale she is! She needs a hospital! Why can't you see that?"_

"_She's fine, she just fell."  
"Todd, the blood is leaking through the bandages! She's not fine!" _

_I fired the gun. I had to make hims top. He was trying to talk me into just giving Mimi up. I wasn't going to let him. He dove across the bed. Laying his body on top of Mimi. I have the worst aim in history. I fired five shots and not one hit him._

"_Todd, stop it! You might hit her!" Roger shouted. The last thing I wanted to do was listen to him, but he knew my weakness. It was possible I might hit Mimi and that would be disastrous. _

"_Todd," Roger said as he sat back up, trying to adopt the almost-reasonable tone he had earlier, "Put the gun down. You're going to hurt someone." I barely noticed him taking a step toward me away from the bed, his hand held out for the gun._

_I just stood there, staring at him and trying to plan out what I would do next. Shooting probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Someone was sure to call the police now. That would be fine, though. If police came there would be no reason for me to have to shoot him. They could just arrest him for breaking and entering and Mimi and I could leave. But that didn't mean I was about to drop my gun._

"_No. You'll just shoot me."  
"I won't. I swear I won't. I told you, Todd. I don't _want _to fight you. I just want tog et Mimi to a hospital. Just put the gun down. You don't even have to give it to me. Just set it on the floor and kick out into the living room or something."_

_I thought that over, but decided against it. Roger was obviously bigger and stronger than I was. There was no way I was giving up my only form of protection against him._

"_No. I'm not letting you take her away. You can't have her. She's mine!" I raised the gun to shoot at him again. It seemed like an easy enough shot. He as standing two feet in front of me. But what I didn't realize was that, since he was two feet in front of me, that meant he could actually touch me. He grabbed the arm I had holding the gun and swung me around, ripping the gun from my grasp. I heard it clatter to the floor a few feet away, but ti was quickly masked by the shattering crash that sounded when I hit my bedside table, sending everything spilling across the floor. _

_It was a few mintues before I could re-catch my breath and push myself up. I looked around me at the mess I was sitting in and then looked around the rest of the room. Roger was gone. And so was Mimi._

* * *

_ There. Are you happy now? Roger's not dead. I was shocked by how many people seemed to actually believe he was dead (Particularly one of my best friends who THREW KNIVES AT ME!!!!) :p lol _

_I have the next chapter written, but I'm not going to put it up for two reasons. 1) I wish to create suspense and make you guys really want the next chapter. (Yes, I'm evil) and 2) (The main, main reason) Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I'm currently in the middle of cleaning my entire house (Because I have lazy brothers) for when my family comes tomorrow, so I don't have time to make the corrections, upload, etc. the next chapter. Sorry. But I'll have it up later, tomorrow at the latest. (I get up early and can avoid my mom before she puts me to work. :p) _


	12. Edge of the Earth

Ok, here's the last of the climactic chapters. I hope everyone is satisfied. I worked really hard on this ending. :)

Thank you, Steph!

Enjoy. :)

* * *

Roger cradled Mimi delicately against his chest, trying to decide which way to go. He had run out Todd's front door and was deliberating between which way he should run down the hall. He chose right and ran as quickly as he could without dropping Mimi. 

He reached the end of the hall and was standing in front of a door that led to a stairwell. He had some difficulty getting it open, but finally did just as he heard a door half-way down the hallway opening. Roger let the door swing shut behind him, trying to ease it shut so it wouldn't cause any noise.

It was then that Roger realized he had gone the wrong way. He run into a stairwell, but these stairs only went _up_. To the roof. He couldn't turn around. Todd was heading down the hall right now. So Roger headed up the steps. Surely there would be some way to get down from the roof, right? As he climbed he heard Mimi moan slightly and he looked down to see her stir slightly.

"Shh, it's ok," he murmured slightly, "I won't let him get you. You'll be fine."

He finally made it to the roof and let the door shut behind him before turning the lock on the door. He doubted that would keep Todd out.**(A/N: That might actually be "keep Todd IN" but I'm not entirely sure. :p)**

Roger walked over to the edge of the roof, peering over the half wall. There was no way to climb down from here. At least, not while carrying Mimi. But there was no way he was going to just leave her up here on the roof alone with Todd.

Roger walked back to one of the corners of the roof that was hidden by some air conditioning vents. He gently laid Mimi at the ground, making sure she was well hidden. Then, noticing Mimi was shivering slightly from the cold air, he slipped his jacket off and laid it over her.

"Don't worry, baby. You're going to be ok. I'll make sure he doesn't get you," he whispered soothingly before kissing her softly on the forehead and heading off to find another way down from the roof.

He had just made it half-way around the roof from Mimi when heard the door to the rooftop open. Of course. Why would a simple locked door keep that guy away? Roger positioned himself so he would be as far away from Mimi as he could be before shoving a flower pot to the ground, causing a huge crashing sound.

* * *

_All right, Mr. psycho, _he though,_come and get me._

_Todd's POV_

_I ran into the hall hearing the door at the end of the hall close. Idiot. What is he thinking? He's going to run up onto the roof? How is that going to help him get away? It was then that the horrifying possibility occurred to me that Roger might be intending to throw Mimi off the roof! He was crazy. He couldn't have her, so he was going to make sure no one could._

_I got to the door of the roof to find he had locked it. Did he really think that would work? I often came up here to think and after finding it locked many times I just stole a key from the superintendent's office downstairs. He didn't even notice._

_I rushed up to the roof and stood still, listening. They had to be here somewhere. There was nowhere to go. Unless he was planning on jumping off the roof as well. Then I heard a loud crash from the other side of the roof. The idiot didn't even know when to stay quiet._

_I shut the door and locked it and then grabbed a folding chair that was left up here and jammed it under the door handle. I quickly moved to where I had heard the sound and saw Roger standing there, alone. _

"_Where's Mimi?" I asked, pointing the gun at him again. I was shaking so badly now, though, that it was pointed at his stomach instead of his head._

"_I'm not telling you," he said like I was insane, "I don't care if you hurt me, in fact I don't care if you shoot that and actually manage to kill me. But you are _not_ getting anywhere near Mimi."_

"_What did you do with her?" I asked, my voice shaking almost as much as my hands. What had he done? Had he thrown her off the roof? Someone would've noticed, right? And he wouldn't have been stupid enough to stand here in front of me if he had done that. But then again, he was crazy, so what did I know?_

"_I didn't do anything with her, Todd. Now just go back downstairs before you hurt somebody."_

"_Maybe I _want_ to hurt somebody." I took step toward him and he took a step back, looking worried. _

"_Come on, Todd. Do you really want to shoot me? That won't help anything. It won't help you, you'll be in jail. How do you plan on being with Mimi if that happens?" _

"_Nobody would send me to jail after this. I killed you in defense."_

"_Defense of who? I'm unarmed. I don't have anything on me that could hurt you. And _I'm _not the one who's been attacking people." It sounded like he was getting angry now, no matter how hard he tried to keep that false voice of reason._

"_Defense of Mimi. You hurt her. And I'm not going to let you anymore."_

"_Todd, you sound like a broken record. You just keep saying the same thing over and over, but that doesn't make it true. I've never hurt Mimi and I never would. That's why you want to shoot me. Because otherwise there would be no way to get us apart. But think, Todd. Do you really think that after you shoot me, if you somehow manage to avoid prison, that Mimi would go to you? She doesn't love you, why can't you see that and just let her go?"_

"_You're wrong!" I shouted, a little louder than I meant to. And I pulled the trigger. I was shaking pretty badly and my aim was bad enough as it is, so I was surprised I even managed to hit him anywhere. But I did. He cried out and dropped to one knee, holding his leg out in front of him which had started gushing blood._

_I pulled the trigger again, trying to steady my hand, but the chamber was empty. So I threw the gun and launched myself at him. Under normal circumstances that would've been a very stupid thing to do, but not now. Because now he was injured, the playing field was evened out slightly. He tried to get up and knock me off him, but he was failing badly. _

_I knew I wouldn't be able to actually beat him to death, so I had to think of another plan as we struggled with each other. Then I got an idea. We were on the roof! I kicked him in the leg I had shot, which momentarily distracted him and gave me a chance to push him as hard as I could towards the roof edge. _

_He toppled over and I rushed to the side to make sure he had actually fallen. Roger must be some sort of super human, because he had somehow managed to grab onto a ledge farther down the building and was hanging there, trying to pull himself. There was no way he would get very far, especially with his injured leg. But I could hear sirens in the distance and my gut told me they were coming here. I wasn't going to just let him hang there until they showed up, I didn't just want him away from Mimi anymore, I wanted him dead._

_So I climbed over the edge of the wall and brought my foot down on his hand as hard as I could. I heard a cracking sound as he screamed and let go of the wall. One down. Only one hand held him away from certain death. All I had to do was take that away and he would never bother Mimi and me again…_

* * *

Mimi shivered slightly and rolled over. That hurt, so she rolled back. It was then that she noticed she was not laying down in bed. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up. She had no idea where the hell she was. She felt something slide off of her as she sat up slowly, holding her head. It hurt a lot. She pulled her hand away to find blood on it. 

Before she had time to panic over the blood she remembered everything that had happened. And then she started crying. She couldn't believe what she had done. Roger was dead. He was the most important thing in her world. He _was_ her world and now he was gone. And it was all because she had to be nice and talk to the guy who was being picked on. It was all her fault.

She looked down to see what had slipped off of her. It was Roger's jacket. She picked it up, shivering, and wrapped it around herself. Not because she was cold, but because she knew it was all she had left now. She held the jacket tightly around her, breathing in Roger's scent that had been left on the jacket and sobbing quietly.

She knew this was stupid. The last thing she remembered was falling and hitting her head. With Todd standing over her. So he had to be around here somewhere, but where could he be? She didn't know and she didn't care, she had to get out of here. But where was she? She looked around her again. It looked like she was on a roof.

Mimi stood up slowly, holding one hand over her head and feeling dizzy. She stood still for a few seconds, trying to make the ground stop moving when a thought occurred to her. Why did she have Roger's jacket? Todd wouldn't have taken it with them, would he? But, if not, then what did that mean?…

She barely had time to think that over before she heard someone scream. Someone scream in pain. And she knew that someone. It was Roger! He wasn't dead! But judging from his scream he might be soon, Mimi had to help him. She walked around the small building that concealed the stairwell and froze. She saw Todd, leaning over the edge of the half-wall. He was practically hanging off the roof, holding onto the wall and shouting at someone. Mimi had no doubts that it was Roger. But what could she do?

She saw a folding chair jammed under the door leading to the stairwell. It wasn't a very good plan, but it might work. She dropped Roger's coat to the ground and picked the chair up and folded it down. Then she walked quietly over to Todd. He didn't even notice her. He was too busy trying to knock Roger off the ledge he was holding onto. So he never noticed Mimi swinging the chair as hard as she could against his back.

Mimi hadn't _meant_ to knock him completely off the roof. She had actually been hoping to knock him backward, onto the roof. Despite everything he had done, she didn't want to kill him. But he was too far off the wall, so when she hit him he went tumbling forward, falling toward the pavement.

Mimi didn't concentrate on Todd falling, because when she looked over the side of the roof all she could focus on was Roger. He was clinging to the ledge with one hand, looking very bloody and the worst she had seen him since the car "accident", but he was alive. Mimi could've cried. But she didn't. She leaned over the edge, offering her hand to Roger. He wordlessly took it (Surprisingly, he must have really been hurting to accept help from Mimi right now.) and after a few minutes she managed to help him back up onto the roof.

Roger fell over to the ground and sat there quietly, holding his leg and looking at the fingers of his left hand. Mimi silently leaned against the half wall and stared down at the ground. A crowd had gathered. And in the distance she could see an ambulance and some police cars heading over. The crowd was so thick, she couldn't see Todd's body, which was fine with her.

Suddenly she felt something slip around her shoulders and felt Roger wrap his arms tightly around her. He had limped back to the door and picked up his jacket where Mimi had dropped it and now held if over Mimi's shoulders, trying to stop her shivering. Mimi turned around slowly and stared at Roger wordlessly before breaking down again. Roger held her close, rubbing her back and trying to calm her.

"Mimi, it's ok. It's over now. He can't hurt you anymore," he said soothingly, burying his face in her hair.

"I thought you were dead," she choked out, unable to look at him and she spoke.

"What? And leave you here alone? I would never do that," he said. Mimi let out a strangled laugh and Roger was pleased to see she was starting to calm down.

Mimi pulled back slightly and looked Roger over.

"You look terrible," she said.

"Gee, thanks," he said sarcastically, "It might have something to do with fighting some psychotic stalker bent on kidnapping my girlfriend and killing me."

Mimi smiled slightly and leaned her head against his chest, she had started to get dizzy again.

"Are you ok?" Roger asked, watching her apprehensively. She had turned really pale again and was starting to shake. She just shook her head weakly and then leaned her head against his chest again.

"Let's get you downstairs," Roger said, slipping his arm under legs and picking her up bridal style.

"Roger, you can't carry me. You can barely walk," Mimi said weakly.

"I'll be fine," he said. And he slowly limped to the doorway and carried Mimi down the stairs to the waiting ambulance.

* * *

Tah-dah! The end of my climax! So, what do you think? Originally, I had it end after Roger got Mimi out of Todd's apartment and he went to jail. But then I realized that was very anti-climactic and a bit of a let-down. So I re-wrote it. :) Only one chapter left. le sigh But then I can move onto my next story! Silver lining. :) 


	13. Always There for You

Ok everyone. This is it. the final chapter. The big (and short) finale. I want to thank all of the awesome readers that stuck through to the end (even after it looked like I killed Roger-twice!)You have no idea how happy you all made me. I never thought people would actually enjoy my story. :)

Thank you, cone again, to my excellent beta-reader, Steph.

And, finally, enjoy. :)

* * *

"So, Mark and Collins send their love. They were planning on visiting today, but Mark's boss sprung some un-expected work on him and Collins has some mid-terms to grade. Maureen and Joanne are going to stop by later on. Jodie came by with Tricia and Lizzie earlier, but you already know that because they left the flowers." Roger broke off and stared at the flowers. 

It didn't make much sense to have them there. Mimi hated flowers. They always died. If she ever received a flower, she said she wanted it in a flower pot, so it was still alive and would grow and live out a long, normal plant life. **(A/N: Is it just me, or does anyone else feel the same way? I do. Also, the fact that any flower I have ever received died within two days of me getting it doesn't help. :p) **Roger smiled to himself. Mimi could be so weird sometimes, one of the reasons why he loved her so much.

Roger reached out his good hand and held Mimi's small, more fragile hand gently. It had been three days and Mimi still hadn't regained consciousness. At a first glance, Roger would appear to be the more beat-up one. He had a bandage on the back of his head where the gun had hit him and two fingers on his left hand were broken. He also had bandages wrapped all around his right leg where he got shot. But the bullet had barely grazed his skin, it wasn't serious at all. Dr. Cullen said Roger just had to walk with crutches for about two weeks and then he'd be good to go. Mimi, however, was still lying in her hospital bed, a single bandage placed on her upper forehead, looking as if she were sleeping.

Roger wasn't sure why he was still talking to her. There was no way she could hear him. She was in a coma. How could she hear him? But he had remembered hearing that if you talk to a comatose person than they're more likely to wake up sooner. So he took a deep breath and continued talking.

"You know, you should really wake up. I mean, you're always complaining about how hard _I_ am to get up and here I am, spending three days trying to get you up and it's not working," he smiled slightly, but there was still no change, "Come on, baby. We have to start planning our wedding. We've been engaged for two months now and don't have anything down. Plus, one of the nurses keeps flirting with me. Don't worry, though. She's got nothing on you." He smiled again and lifted her hand to his lips before placing a gentle kiss there.

Still nothing. Roger sighed and proceeded to talk, this time switching the "conversation" to wedding ideas. Because Mimi was going to wake up. She had to. And when she did, they would plan their wedding for real.

* * *

Mimi knew immediately she was in a hospital room. She had spent two weeks there last Christmas Eve, after all and then another two weeks when Roger was here. It was starting to seem like a second home. She shivered. What a horrible place to call home. 

"You're awake!" Mimi turned to the doorway and immediately smiled. Roger was standing there, holding a bag of McDonald's. He walked over to Mimi and set his food on the bedside table. "Unbelievable. I leave for five minutes to get something to eat and _that's_ when you decide to join the living."

"Ha ha. Very funny," Mimi said sarcastically, but unable to lose her smile. She held her hand out and smiled wider when Roger took it, kissing it as he sat down in the chair next to her bed. "How long have a been out?"

"Three days," He said, still placing kisses on Mimi's hand and wrist.

Mimi made a weird noise, causing Roger to look up at her. "What?"

"Three days. That's it? I had to deal with you being out for a week and I didn't say anything. But I'm out for three days and you scold me."

"Yeah, but you already used up your hospital time last Christmas Eve."

"Touche."

They just sat there, looking at each other after that. Every once in a while Roger would lean in and kiss Mimi, but other than that they were perfectly still. Mimi was thinking. There were some things she wanted to know, but she wasn't sure she was ready to ruin the carefree atmosphere. But of course, Roger read on her face that something was wrong.  
"What's up?" he asked, staring so intently at her that any thought of lying and saying she was fine immediately left her mind.

"What happened to Todd?" Roger immediately looked down, avoiding her gaze. It was bad.

"He's dead, Mimi."

"Oh, God…" She started to breathe in short gasps. He was dead. She had killed him. What was going to happen to her now? She didn't want to go to jail. She hadn't meant to kill him.  
"Mimi, Mimi. Calm down," Roger said soothingly, rubbing his hands on her shoulders. "Mimi, it's ok. You're not in any trouble.

"How can I not be in trouble? I pushed him off a roof! I'm going to go to jail now. Oh, God…"  
"Mimi, you did it in self-defense. There's no way anyone would send you to jail over that."

Mimi still looked worried, so Roger climbed onto the bed next to hear so he could pull her closer to him.

"Everything's going to be fine," he said, stroking her hair, "Nothing's going to happen to you. I promise. I won't let them do anything to you."

They lay in silence again as Mimi thought over Roger's words, calming down. He was right. There was no way anyone would even think of sending Mimi to jail over this. She hadn't done anything wrong, after all. She leaned her head against Roger's chest and closed her eyes.

"Roger?" she finally said.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."  
"For what?"

"Everything. Being there for me when I was breaking down. Staying with me after all the stupid shit I caused. Following me to Todd's place. Are you crazy? He could've killed you."

"Yeah, but if I didn't follow him he could've killed _you_. And what was the point in living if I didn't have you?"

"You're crazy," she murmured again.

"Well, you're welcome," Roger said, kissing her forehead. "I told you, you're the most important person in the world to me. I would do anything for you, Mimi I'll always be there for you."

Mimi couldn't think of a response to that. So she just closed her eyes again, thinking. Given the circumstances it probably seemed impossible, but Mimi felt like the luckiest girl in the world. She had the best boyfriend-fiance-ever and she loved him more than it was possible to love someone. She knew he would always be there for him, and she would always be there for him too.

* * *

And that's it. the end. I hope you guys enjoyed it. :) And I hope my ending didn't seem too vague. There's still more to Roger and Mimi's story, but it has nothing to do with THIS story, so I'm going to start it in another one. :) I'll have the first chapter to that one up sometime today for those who would care to read it. It won't be a thriller like this one, though. It's more a family-drama story, but hopefully it will be just as good. :) 


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